“BUTCHER’S GIRL” STRIKE

Southland Times, Issue 25434, 5 August 1944, Page 5

“BUTCHER’S GIRL” STRIKE

MINERS BOYCOTT BUS (Rec. 9.40 p.m.) SYDNEY, August 4. The “butcher’s girl” strike at Portland took another amazing turn today when a bus driver was officially removed from his run after a boycott by the striking miners. At a mass meeting miners alleged that the driver had been buying meat from Mr Peter Dargin’s shop, which has been declared black. The general strike began a week ago over the dismissal by Dargin of a girl employee. The striking miners will return to work on Monday, but they have demanded that they be found alternative transport. At a meeting attended by 250 shareholders the Portland Co-operative Society decided to open a . co-operative butcher shop. There were only three dissentients to the proposal. Twelve striking butchers from Dargin’s shop, who disobeyed the order of the Prime Minister, Mr John Curtin, to return to work, expect to find employment in the town’s new butchery. A special meat quota for the enterprise is being sought. The whole affair is assuming im-

portance as a political issue. The Sydney Morning Herald says in an editorial: “The spectacle of such an attempt at mob rule is not a re-

assuring one in Australia. The Commonwealth would do well to investigate most thoroughly this strike movement to ascertain whether the people of Portland are not being deliberately exploited by elements whose aim is to wreck democratic Government.”

Mr Curtin refused th’e request for a meat quota to permit the opening of a co-operative butchery.