AFTER FIVE MONTHS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1929, Page 15

AFTER FIVE MONTHS

TIMBER STRIKE SETTLED. SYDNEY EXCLUDED. Sydney, June 27. The settlement of the timber strike reached in Melbourne on Saturday last does not, for some reason or other, apply to Sydney, although when the strike was commenced five months ago Sydney and Melbourne unions were united. The Melbourne settlement was a tribute to Sir Robert Gibson, who presided at the conference, and who verynearly collapsed when. he had brought about a settlement. Both parties united in singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” and perhaps it was this demonstration, which was the essence of sincerity, which affected him. At any rate, he was not in a position to make an official statement for some time after, and he needed medical attention. He had achieved what seemed to be the impossible. Both parties had expressed a determination not to give way an inch, and yet he brought about a compromise which was accepted by the whole of the employers and the men.

No sooner* had the Melbourne settlement been announced than the Sydney employers rushed into print with a half-page advertisement in all the papers, announcing, in effect, that such a settlement would not be acceptable to them. They would have nothing to do with a compromise, and they seem to be disappointed that their Melbourne colleagues had been led into one. However, Melbourne employers had evidently been impressed with the idea that there should be some measure of give and take, and so they ended one of the most remarkable strikes on record in Australia’s sad history of industrial disturbances. It affected nearly 15,000 men, and the amount of money distributed as strike relief is a remarkable tribute to comradeship of the workers.

NATURE OF COMPROMISE. Since Judge Lukin delivered his award in the Federal Arbitration Court, the Melbourne employers have insisted upon a working week of 48 hours, in accordance with the provisions of that award. This has been preserved, in spite of union objections. A meeting of 250 members of the Timber Workers’ Union, the. Carpenters’ and Joiners’ Union, and the Drivers’ Union, passed a resolution reaffirming the 44-hour-week, but agreeing to return to work under the terms of the settlement ar-

rived at by the Gibson Conference. The terms provide for a 48-hour week, with the provision that one-half day’s pay a week of each man shall be banked in a suspense account for six months. In the meantime an inquiry will be held into the financial position of the timber industry, and, if it is found that the industry can stand a 44-hour week,

the employees will receive this amount, and if not, the money will revert to the employers. And so it would seem that in keeping with the nature of the strike, the terms of the settlement are remarkable.

Of course, all the points in dispute were not settled at the conerence, but further negotiations will continue as soon as all the men have returned to work. Both sides have been complimented on their display of commonsense in reaching a settlement, even though that settlement was somewhat belated. It is felt that the strike in Sydney could also be settled if the employers would not insist upon a general iesumption of work before anything, in the nature of a conference is even spoken of. The strikers are prepared to meet in conference at any time, and they have even hinted that they will bo prepared to consider a compromise, but in this attitude they have received no encouragement from the employers, who, it is feared in some quarters, are displaying an attitude too similar to that of Shylock. It certainly seems remarkable that a strike should continue in Sydney for five months and nobody make a single move to settle it. Several municipal councils, in desperation, no doubt, appealed to the Governor to intervene. Of course, the powers of the Governor in such a matter are strictly limited, and ho cannot act independently of his advisers, namely, the Government. He ahounced that he was willing to act, however, if he ■were approached by both sides to the dispute. The workers. were willing to approach him, but again the employers failed to lespond. It should be clearly understood that the action of men in coming out on strike cannot be defended. They are in the wrong. Still, the fact remains that the strike is an accomplished fact, and has been so for (

five months, and in the circumstances it would seem that the New South Wales employers could stretch a point, < and so benefit by the example set bj the Victorians.