SYDNEY'S MEAT STRIKE.

West Coast Times, 19 February 1914, Page 3

SYDNEY'S MEAT STRIKE.

AUSTRALIAN.

DEVELOPMENTS AND COMPLICATIONS. EFFORTS AT MEDITATION. [FEE PRESS ASSOCIATION. —COPYRIGHT.] SYDNEY, Feb. IS. Mr. Estoll continued his efforts at mediation throughout yesterday. He liad two interviews with' the .Master Butchers’ Committee and suggested that the Committee confer with the Union delegates. This was declined by the Committee on the ground that no possible good would result, and the Committee made a counter suggestion that Mr Estell, the secretary of the Labour Council, and th > Industrial Commissioner should cot fer with the men with a view to resuming work under the old conditions. On the Cabinet’s instructions, Mr Estell resumes mediation to-day, and Ir- is hopeful of finding a way out of the difficulty, though he insists that the Arbitration Act must be observed. The Secretary of the Labour Federation of Australasia says he is watching 'developments and is prepared to afford any help required, but the Federation has no idea of a general strike. The dispute should he confined to the meat industries. The employers state that there is sufficient frozen meat in the stores to meet all Sydney’s demands for a fortnight or three weeks. It has been arranged to open three depots to-day, two in the city, and one at Rockdale, for distribution, but there is a possibility of this move being blocked. At a meeting of the Grand Council of th 3 Australasian .Meat Industry, it was decided to work all frozen meat intended for export, but the question of distribution in the city was postponed to. a meeting on Friday. This is interpreted to mean that if the Council so decides, the cold storage employees will he asked to strike in sympathy with the other employees in the industry. Fresh meat is still available in the suburbs and the country, hut there is none in the city. The Unionists explain that no stock was purchased on their behalf at yesterday’s stock sales because no slaughtering facilities are available, practically the whole of the abattoirs spacebeing leased to the carcase butchers. The strike has already renedered 4000 idle, including 200 carcase carters. MELBOURNE, Feh. 18. The trouble over pen cleaning has been settled, and the. slaughtermen have resumed, but the butchers’ shop employees have made claims bringing them into line with the Sydney men, and demanding a conference within 48 hours. Failing a settlement, they will leave work on Friday morning. The masters have granted a conference to-day. ATTEMPTS AT STRIKE BREAKING SYDNEY, Feh. 18. The master butchers have opened two city depots in Rockdale to supply meat. A force of police was detailed to keep back the crowds eager to obtain supplies. The unionists refused to cart meat to the depots, but the masters managed ,the transport. The intervention of the Lajmnr Council is regarded hopefully by responsible, men in Labour circles. The Hon. Mr. Estell (Minister for Labour), spent the whole of tin morning interviewing both sides in the dispute, hut results have not been announced.

‘ HR IS NOT NETIO.” SYDNEY, Fell. IS. Writing editorially, on the meat strike, “The Sun” says; Mr. Holman is not Nero, nor anybody half as heartless, yet there is much satire in finding the Premier philosophering in New Zealand, while Sydney is starving. It would be more interesting to read the cablegrams exchanged be-; tween Mr. Carmichael and Mr. Holman, two of the most astute brains ir the. Ministry than to study daily in the press the confessions of the members of the Cabinet that they can do nothing with the Butchers’ and Slaughtermen’s Unions and nothing with the. employers who are spoiling for an industrial fight. So far as the present trouble has gone, neither Mr. Estell nor Mr. Flowers or the Ministers immediately held responsible for this labour dispute seem to have spoken with any right or influence. The responsible members of the Cabinet have remained silent.” “The Sun” concludes: “Mr. Holman’s airy sermons in New Zealand on social unrest are a joke in the true seriousness of his position as Premier in the grave difficulty confronting 700,000 of the people of Sydney. The most amazing feature is the absence of an.- announcement that the Premier is immediately returning instead of spending time as an eloquent guest of the New Zealand Club.” MORE MEN ON STRIKE. SYDNEY, Feb. 18. Another hundred men have struck at the Clyde Works to-day. It is anticipated that two thousand will be out by the end of the week, despite the concessions of the engineering woks at Auburn, where 150 men refused to commence work. A ihass meeting of the iron trade unions is being held to-night.