TRIVIAL CAUSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 7

TRIVIAL CAUSES

DISPUTES IN NEW SOUTH WALES INDUSTRIES DISRUPTED SYDNEY, Apl. 14. Three disputes over what appear to be trivial causes threaten supplies of power, coal and beer in New South wales. Because a man did not buy a ticket to a staff picnic, his fellowemployees in the Newcastle power house have imposed an overtime ban. As a result the Sydney power supply may be affected at peak periods. The man concerned offered to pay the price of the ticket as a contribution to the picnic fund, but this was refused. Members of the Amalgamated Engineering Union and the Australian Railways Union decided they would not work with anyone who did not buy a ticket—valued at 4s. The dispute is before the Conciliation Commissioner. Two main New South Wales breweries have decided to cut supplies of bulk beer by 30 per cent after Easter. They claim that this is because maintenance men at the breweries have banned overtime to force their claim for a dozen bottles of beer a weekOverhauling of. machinery will now have to be done in normal production time.

A stoppage at the Waratah Colliery, Newcastle, occurred yesterday because of the “objectionable smell” coming from the pit horses. Officers of the Miners’ Lodge said that the horses, which work underground, had never been washed, and that as yesterday was a fine day. the men decided to give the management a chance to wash them.