MINERS COMPLAIN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 1

MINERS COMPLAIN.

Dismissal of Workers at Huntly. “NO CONSULTATION.” (Special to the “ Star.”) AUCKLAND, December 19. The position which has arisen as a . result of the decision of the Waikato ! coal mine owners to reduce the number : of men owing to the falling off in the demand for coal, was discussed at a ' meeting of the Northern Miners’ District Council at Huntly yesterday. The meeting lasted all day. Arrangements were made to meet the owners and further business was adjourned until another massed meeting of miners is held to-day. “ Our chief complaint against the step that has been taken is that there has been no consultation with the district council,” said Mr Robinson, chairman of the Northern Miners’ District 1 Council to-day. “Mr W. D. Holgate, president of the Coal Owners' Association, has stated from time to time that he has always been a strong believer in round-table discussions, and that he was always prepared to meet us. Yet no indication was given on this occa- , sion. The result has been that the men have been indiscriminately picked out and given notice, regardless of the men’s circumstances and regardless of any commitments the men have to meet in the way of Government loans on houses. One of the worst features of the whole affair is that married truckers and miners have been dismissed and single men kept on.”