VICTORIAN STRIKE

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30980, 9 February 1966, Page 13

VICTORIAN STRIKE

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) MELBOURNE, Feb. 8. A 48-hour strike by 80,000 Victorian Government employees which starts at midnight tonight will bring all public transport to a standstill and cripple gas and electricity supplies.

The curtailed power supplies will force hundreds of factories to close.

At least 300,000 factory workers will be stood down, most without pay. The strike, one of the worst in Victoria’s history, will affect everyone. Television stations will operate only at widely spaced half-hour intervals and hotels will be unable to serve chilled beer. No Hot Water Housewives will be able to use their stoves and refrigerators, but not hot water services or radiators. The strike was called by the disputes committee of the Trades Hall Council yesterday. The committee is seeking an extra week's leave for State Government employees. The Government has refused the claim and has declined to negotiate further with the committee. Mass meetings of the strikers will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Yallourn and Horsham. Victoria’s 16 million acres of tinder-dry forest will be almost unpatrolled during the

strike. Today was a day of total fire ban. About 800 men employed by the Forests’ Commission will be involved in the strike.