Loss In Victorian Dispute At Least £1,000,000

Chronicle (Levin), 9 May 1947, Page 5

Loss In Victorian Dispute At Least £1,000,000

C. R.

Aie titipi

P-.A. Correspondent.) '

(From

ay, Special

Received Th.ursday, 7.0 p.m. JSyJDAHY, May 8. Now that the k-8,UUU Victoriaii engineers and railwaymeii who ti'iea by difect action to circium vent the arbitration system, are streaming back to work, it is possible to assess some of the effects of the recent transport strike. i'hough stoppage was by 110 means general, full appraisaJ of the dam..ge is impossibie. For lack of maintenance there were no buses for 44 days and no viectric trains for 24. Train services were cut to haf t. and country train schedules to a quarter of the normai volume. Frivate honies and offiees went short of electricity and housewives had to cope with many scarcities'. These matters, though serious enough, are insigniiieant alongside the State Governmeflt revelation that in wages missed by the men and revenue lost to public atiJitles, the dispute cost Vietoria at least £1,000,000. The men involved in the dispute lost £600,000 in «wages, the railways £275,000 in revenue and tramways and buses £130,000. During Ihe eurrency of the dispute Commonwealth unemployment benelits in the State totalled £100,000. - Business turnov'er diminished by 30 per cent and production of essentials such as baths, stoves, grates, window frames, sinks, moor cars and trucks 411 d tyres, practically ceased. It is here that an accurate appraisal of the damage done to Australia cannot be made. Everywhere buildings are imcompleted, contracts unfinished and industries running to a standstill because of the absence of nviterials. ; The disclosures that New South ; Wales cannot export further flour t to Britain is only one of a score ■ of similar grave consequences ! lirectly traceable to the Victorian 1 holdup. j After suffering considerablu . hgrdship themselves and ii#licting incalculable harm 011 the e'conomy ; of the Commonwealth, the disput- ( ants find themselves in possession of nothipg„th.at ..opuld not have been gained peaceably and legallv by way of the Arbitration Court. Digging deeply to produce some advantages gained by direct action, Mr. B. Flanagan, Victorian secretary of the Ironworkers' Association, said that the concessions included an interim basie wage earlier than planned, the re1 laxation of wage pegging regnVi s fions and the l)elief that suhstanlial marginal wage increases and ; 'he inelu.sion of war loadings in Ihe bas'e wage, should be granted. For such tenuous and qucstion>hle gains, the price has been ter- . rific. The Amalgamated Engineor:ng ITnion is poorer by over C1 00,000 and has blotted a hitherfo fine industrial record. Trade unionists are alreadv 'alking of another strike wh j Mi ■vonld' bring out gasAvorkers, rail'vaymen, tramwaymen and electrieians. in an assault on weekend nenaltv rates. Tt is hoped that a study of the disastrous balance dieet of the transport dispute will leter even the hotheads.