INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS

Otago Witness, Issue 3518, 16 August 1921, Page 17

INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS

DOCKYARD WORKERS’ DECISION. LONDON, August 12. The dockyard workers have agreed to work two extra hours weekly in order to avoid the 3s automatic cost of living re duction. YARROW’S WORKS CLOSING. LONDON, August 12 Messrs Yarrow and Co. have decided to close down their shipbuilding works on the Clyde on November 30 owing to the ship joiners’ and other strikes. The reduction of output and the demarcation disputes make the costs excessive. They declare that they will reonen only' when conditions enable business to be conducted with some chance of success. BOLSHEVISM. LONDON, August 12. The workers in the South Wales mining districts are offering a determined opposition to Bolshevism within their ranks. One Rhondda Valley club, with 6000 members, mostly consisting of miners, has posted a notice declaring that any r member upholding any waywill be liable to expulsion. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. LONDON, August 8. The British Labour Party- will hold an international conference in London early in October, at which it proposes to prepare machinery for creating a world wide labour internationale, on broad enough basis to include the Moscow Internationale and the brotherhoods of the affiliated American Federation of Labour. A COMPROMISE SETTLEMENT. TOKIO, August 9. If is announced at Kobe that the striking shipyard workers have decided to resume work on condition that a preliminarycompromise settlement, giving the- workers a voice in the mechanical direction of the plants, shall be made the basis of further discussions. THE FORTY-FOUR-HOUR WEEK. SYDNEY, August 9. In connection with the application to extend the 44-hour week to the railway service, counsel for the commissioners stated that the working expenses of the railways and tramways for the past year have increased by £1,640,000 over the previous year, largely as the result of increased pay. The reduction in hours would mean a further large increase in expenses. UNEMPLOYED IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, August 11. Unemployment is growing more prevalent in Sydney and other industrial centres. The trouble has been increased by the Federal Government discharging large numbers from the Cockatoo Dock, the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, and other employment, and by the Governments of the various States economising through the Public Works and other channels. Similarly- private employers, owing to the slackness of business and the constant demands for higher wages with shorter hours, axe reducing expenses and shortening hands wherever possible. All the States are more or less affected. Unemployed demonstrations are taking place in the various cities, and the papers teem with appeals to supnlement the already- generous Government aid for the distressed crowds of workless and allegedly starving women and children. In Sydney the high rents are forcing families in the industrial suburbs to pack like sardines.