THE COAL STRIKE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 30 November 1926, Page 5

THE COAL STRIKE.

WORK TO BE RESUMED. IN LARGE NUMBER OF MINES. P; es 5 Association-Electric Telegraph-Copyright* LONDON, Monday. Work will be resumed in. .practically all the coalfields on Monday;. The exceptions are South Wales, Yorkshire and Durham. In Yorkshire and Durham ballots are now being taken on the recommendation that the owners’ terms be accepted.” In a speech in South Yorkshire, Mr A. J. Cook, secretary . qf tLej ' ‘ Federation, said he, call it a, defeat. It was a retreat'.’ They would. set about the task of recovering ground. v S'.-jCWR. The miners ceased work at midnight on April 30th, so rthey have been idle for 30 weeks. The dispute came to a head on Juno'3oth, 1925, when the Mining Association gave notice of the termination of the existing wag.es agreemet. The owners offered a new wages scheme, which the miners rejected,|'but at. the end of July the Government decided ;to subsidise the industry for nine months. At the end of that period no agreement had bee in .reached, and the miners left the pits. Quite apart from the exhaustion of their union funds, the miners have lost heavily. If the}- had accepted lower wage rates, they could have retained their national agreement, and.the .seven-hour day. The power to negotiate nationally lias been lost, Parliament has rescinded the seven-hour day legislation, and, except in some of the more profitable fields, the miners must work longer, foi ? lower wages.