MAY BE CALLED OFF.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 456, 18 May 1932, Page 7

MAY BE CALLED OFF.

Strike of Local Relief Workers.

MORE MEN RETURN TO JOBS.

The strike of relief workers in the Christchurch district has been a total failure, and there is every possibility that it will be called off to-morrow. The scheme to down tools on all jobs as part of a Dominion-wide protest against the new scale of wages and new conditions, embracing the abolition of the stand-down week, was supported by only a small minority of the men, and at no stage have more than 20 per cspt of them been idle. One of the drawbacks to the demonstration against the. new scheme proved to be the fact that the City Council and the Waimakariri River Trust’s men, who represent the largest proportion of the relief workers in the city and suburban area, were not affected by the Unemployment Board’s new scheme. The trust’s employees are engaged under a special arrangement arrived at following a strike about a month ago, while the relief wages of the City Council’s workmen are subsidised by the councjl. Few Absentees To-day. There were singularly few absentees from the various relief works to-day, the Lyttelton men being virtually the only men to remain loyal to the strikers' cause. There the decision not to resume work -was re-affirmed. Out of 120 men on the unemployment register, thirteen only were working. The majority of the men have now returned to work on relief works carried out by the Railway Department between Lyttelton and Islington, although these men comprised one of the groups that most solidly supported the strike earlier in the week. All of the 245 men signed up by the Works Department of the City Council put in an appearance this morning, while in addition to approximately 400 men w'ho have been working for the Waimakariri River Trust during the present week, fifteen new men commenced work this morning. There were practically no absentees from works carried on by the Christchurch Drainage Board, the Waimairi County Council and the Sumner and New Brighton Borough Councils. Four men out of 24 were not at work at Riccarton. The figures in respect to the Heathcote County Council’s undertakings were 20 and 250 respectively. The apathy towards the strike was illustrated this morning, when no more than about 150 men assembled in the yard at the rear of the City Council Chambers to discuss the situation. The meeting was addressed by .several leaders, but no statement w r as issued as to the nature of the proceedings. Arrangements have been made by the Strike Committee for a meeting of unions to be held to-morrow evening to discuss “ the attacks that are being made on the wages and conditions of the workers.” It was stated to-day by a member of the committee that the committee took strong exception to the presence of a large force of police and the Black Maria outside a hall last evening, when a meeting of unemployed was held. It was contended that the meeting was perfectly peaceful and orderly and there was no need for the appearance of the police.

POSITION IN WELLINGTON Pickets Visit Several Small Jobs. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, May 18. A total of 1537 out of 2153 unemployed due to start to-day are stated to be at work. Pickets visited a number of small jobs and induced 100 men to leave off. A policy of- peaceful penetration was tried on some of the jobs. Some men, it is alleged, are reporting back for work with the intention of taking the opportunity to discuss the situation with the men who remain determined to work, the object being to dissuade them from continuing. On the Hataitai job, it is stated that when the strikers came to work the engineer put them on the lower portion of the hill and the men who had been working at the top and permitted no contact between the jobs. When the position became plain to the newcomers they put down their tools and left. Things were quiet at the Trades Hall this morning, though there were knots of men within discussing the position.