GLEN AFTON DISPUTE.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18257, 19 February 1931, Page 6

GLEN AFTON DISPUTE.

MINES STILL IDLE. (Special to Times.) HUXTLY, Thursday. ’ The Glen Afton and .MacDonald combined mine was idle yesterday and again to-day. The dispute with the management of the Glen Afton Collieries is siill unsettled, viz., the preference given to men for work who are not on the waiting list by the company, and other workers who have previously been employed by' the company and who, it is alleged by the Miners' Union, are entitled to preference over the men put on by the management of the company. A wrong impression has been published that four coal mines are idle. Such is not the case. In common fairness it has to he stated that the Glen Aflon Collieries have leased the MacDonald mine from the Government. and the latter mine has been pierced with three drives, hut to say that these- drives are separate mines is bordering on absurdity, and all the coal from the two areas is weighed by the Glen Afton Company, who control the whole area, and in fairness to the men themselves this po.nt' should be noted.

A meeting was held at Glen Afton yesterday, and as the points in dispute- are of a very vital nature in connection with (he principle of preference to unionists, the men agreed that it was a matter to be dealt with .by the- Northern Miners’ District Council, and that body is sitting at Ituntly to-day to deal with the matter.