PUKEMIRO STRIKE

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20464, 2 April 1938, Page 8

PUKEMIRO STRIKE

SETTLEMENT LIKELY ACTION BY COMMITTEE MINISTER ADDRESS MEN (Times Special Reporter) PUKEMIRO, Saturday At a meeting of miners at Pukemiro yesterday, at which the Hon. P. G. Webb, Minister of Mines, and tho Hon. W. Lee Martin were present, it was stated by the secretary of the local miners' union, Mr A. Robinson, that the union committee would recommend to the men that they accept the terms of settlement arrived at after a discussion with the mine manager. It Is believed that when this recommendation Is placed before the men on Monday morning they will support It and return to work. The men stated yesterday that they ceased work as a protest against the action on Wednesday of a mine deputy in regard to one of the ersAnother Appeal As at Huntly on Wednesday the Hon. P. C. Webb made an appeal to the miners to settle their differences by reference to the disputes’ committee and to refrain from stoppages which were endangering the industry as a whole and reflecting discredit on a Government which had the welfare of the miners very much at heart. He said that when the miners acted in little groups to foment trouble they were undoing the very organisation which had been built to protect their interests. All that had been achieved by unionism would surely be smashed down if the miners drifted into factions and brought about stoppages over trifling differences. When he came into office, said Mr Webb, he had appealed to all branches of the industry for organisation to combat the oncoming forces of the Diesel engine and of electricity. He had given an assurance to the consumers of coal that supplies would be maintained and to realise this aim the miners had been organised under a national agreement and steps had been taken to ensure that the production of coal would remain as constant as possible throughout the year. Strength of Organisation Nearer in the history of the country had the miners been organised so strongly, said the Minister, but that did not stop small sections of the workers acting independently of the Miners' Federation, with which, he contended, lay the final say in calling a strike. If the miners were unanimous in their action in stopping work he would be one hundred per cent with them, but if petty grievances on the part of a few were going to cause stoppages it would break down all that had been won for the miners. Only on the score of safety would he support the miners for ceasing work without reference to the disputes’ committee. Mr Webb reminded the miners that they had a duty to the community to see that the supply of coal was maintained. If the miners were provoked by some action of their employers he appealed to them not to take hasty action. “Don’t let yoursolf drift Into a position where you are the laughing stock of this country,” he said. If the mine-owners were looking for trouble the Government were not going to let them get away with it, added the Minister, but the miners must realise that they could not take the law into their own hands. The miners and mine-owners had agreed'at Huntly to form a joint committee to consider any disputes and he hoped that that body would solce many of the difficulties that had arisen.