COAL MINERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 491, 6 September 1915, Page 10

COAL MINERS.

HINTS OF TROUBLE.

A COMMON DEMAND.

MORE WAGES WANTED.

A conference of West Coast Coal Miners' Unions is to be held in Christchurch on Friday, and a meeting to bring the men's grievances before the public will also be held. A demand for a 20 per cent, increase has been made by the miners of the West Coast upon the employers. The reason given is the increased cost of living. The disappearance of the old Federation of Labour gave birth to a new organisation known as the West Coast Miners' Federation. Lately, the scope of this organisation has been widened to embrace all the mines in the Dominion. The mining companies each make a separate agreement with the local union covering the men who work at the mine, and the agreement is made an award of the Arbitration Court.

The notice given to the employers demanded that representatives of the mine-owners should meet the /ederation executive and discuss the position. The employers have replied that if each union sends a representative the mine-owners will I meet them, but the association of mine-owners has no power to treat with the employees, each company reserving that right individually. The existing agreements were mostly made in 1914, and have considerable periods to run yet. One of the managers of a local mine-owning company mentioned to a Sun representative to-day that the basis of the claim was the increased cost of living. Government statistics showed that the increase on the West Coast was from 8 to 10 per cent. Every working man was carrying a burden as big, or bigger, than that. At the mine he was interested in, full time was being worked, and 16/8 a day was paid to miners. It was only when shipping was seriously affected on the Coast that full time was not worked. This was a rare occurrence "The best-paid man in the country to-day is the coal miner," remarked the mining company representative as he produced a bundle of paysheels, which showed that a big number pf the men were paid as much as £lO per fortnight. The probability of any serious trouble with the miners is regarded as very remote. The coal companies have not benefited by the war at all. In fact, they have had to accept lower prices for coal than they received last year.