LABOUR TROUBLES

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14027, 2 April 1919, Page 6

LABOUR TROUBLES

MILLERTON MINERS STILL OUT. THE DEMANDS. * (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ■ t : WESTPORT, Tuesday. Mr "W. Davidson, president of the Miners' Union, states that the demands of the miners at Alillerton are greatly misunderstood. The facts are that the miners have usually made personal arrangements with the managers, to the rtetriment of the miners in general. Heretofore the custom prevailing at the Millerton mine in connection with trucking has been [very unsatisfactory, in so far as the men were required to come out for from two to four hours a day. The miners desired that all arrangements in regard to the working of the mine that need readjustment should be submitted to the management through their representatives. 'Tlir management insist that they should be empowered to make arrangements as regards payments, etc., in connection with matters not provided for in the agreement at present in operation between the company and the union. The union maintains that all arrangements should be made by individual members of the union, but directly through the activities of the union. Every miner at Millerton is prepared to truck, providing he is kept a t that particular employment for i whole of the shift. Thev do not »-.»h to dictate to the employers as to the amount of work they should do. The miners' demands simply amount to the following, viz., an agreement to be made between the union and the companies, and not by th» industrial member, a practice which has prevailed and has been entirely unsatisfactory. The miners, if required to leave the face, are prepared to do so for th e period of the phift. The action of the miners relieves the pressure under which the company 5 S smarting through the shortage of trackers. Ererv miner placing himself at their service is prepared to do full shifts in trucking work. News from Millerton this morning states that the men are still out.