WEST COAST COAL STRIKE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21155, 3 July 1940, Page 6

WEST COAST COAL STRIKE

Because a knot was tied in a rope at the Liverpool coal mine on the West Coast, 500 miners are idle and coal production is suffering accordingly. The management dismissed the man it suspected of tying the knot and the miners alleged that the management had not the necessary proof of guilt. Therefore the strike was on. The incident serves to show that the confidence reposed in the success of the new arrangement to continue coal mining at full capacity is not wholly justified. Although the strike may be of short duration, the days of work lost by several hundred men will not be recovered, and the continuance of trouble-free production is again rendered uncertain.

Is it impossible for management and employees to see eye to eve in the conduct of such an important industry as coal mining ? Are these frequent interruptions a necessary part of the industry ? They certainly are not, and they do not obtain in dozens of other industries which continue steadily under the influence of a spirit of give and take between workers and employers. Is it not possible to apply the law of equity and good conscience to such disputes ? If a man should be unjustly dismissed the employer has a plain duty to perform. If, on the other hand, he should be dismissed with good cause, how can the miners justify a strike in protest ? Surely it should be possible to continue work while the case is being investigated on common-sense lines.

This is not a matter that concerns the miners and their employers alone. Thousands oi people throughout the country are dependent upon regular supplies of coal, and in a time of crisis such as the present, ample stocks are an urgent necessity. New Zealand is constantly running too near the danger line with regard to coal stocks and it must look to its machinery of production if it is to reach a nosition of safety. What of the recent promises of an assured output of coal ? The Minister of Mines, the Hon. P. C. Webb, gave the public to understand that the position had been rectified by recent negotiations. No doubt he is just as seriously disappointed with this most recent demonstration of fickleness as is the general public. Nobody wants victimisation of workmen, but New Zealanders do expect the coal industry to continue to operate on lines within the bounds of common sense.