MORE TIME WASTED AT COAL MINE

Chronicle (Levin), 26 August 1946, Page 3

MORE TIME WASTED AT COAL MINE

AUCKLAND, August 23. The Glen Afton eoal mine was idle yesterday after a stopwork meeting to diseuss the question of a pair of niiners only half-lilling two trueks at the eoaJ face. The meeting lasted unti] 11.20 a.m. I11 eoal niines the rule is that if a t ruck is lilled with eoal at the face ano becomes parl enipty through derailment on the way to the surface, the niiners must be eredited with a full truek oi eoal. An official of Glen Afton t'ollieries, J-td., which owus the uiine, said that 011 Wednesday a pair of miners only half-tilled two trueks at the eoal face. The mine deputv uoticed the action aml ordered Ihe men to JilJ tho trueks. They ret'used and the deputv told them at 1.30 p.m. that they would not get any inore trueks until they had lilled the two haJf-trueks. They stiil refused and lol't Ihe mine. The union deeided that the two hairtrueks should be sent out of the mine and tlie miners eredited writh the aetuaJ amount of eoal 111 the trueks, instead ot being eredited with two full trueks, said the eompany otlieial. The management agreed. After yesterday 's meeting had been in progress for some timo a re(|uest was made by the union for the two miners to be paid" as from the time Ihe deputv ret'used to supply them with enipty trueks. They were not m the mine at the time for which paymeut was sought, and the request was refused by the management. There have been 72 stoppages at the 'Glen Afton mine sinee January, 1045.