The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1918 BACK TO WORK IN AUCKLAND.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1906, 14 November 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1918 BACK TO WORK IN AUCKLAND.

The sudden response,id Auckland to the call for a general strike appears, to have been followed by an equally sudden back-to-work movement. The desire to strike seized upon quite a number of unions like an epidemic, but after the excitement bad cooled down and the men had a little time for quiet thought the folly.of the thing stared them in the face, and when they saw other men stepping in to take their places it became only too plain that they had been sacrificed by the incompetence of their leaders, The convincing manner in which order was restored on the waterfront at Auckland on Saturday morning was a wholesome reminder to the lawless element that any interference with the right to work would be decisively dealt with, and from that time the handling of cargo on tho wharves has been satisfactorily done by tho members of the new Waterside Workers' Union, the latest information being that "so far as practical results are concerned the business of the port is proceeding as usual." The result is that the watersiders on strike in the North are beginning to realise that the trade and commerce of the country is not going to be paralysed by their refusal to work, while the members of other unions who went out in sympathy cannot fail to recognise that they have made a foolish blunder, and that their sacrifice is bearing no fruit. It is no wonder that many of them are going back to Work, A' Press Association telegram from ; Auckland in yesterday's Dominion stated that the general opinion now is that the strike fever which spread so suddenly over, the town is dying away as suddenly, and that within a week all the men except the extremists will return to their duties. One of the biggest carrying firms in Auckland had twenty carts running on Tuesday. Twelve, of their men had then applied for reinstatement and others were expected to follow. The firm is not at all alarmed at; the situation, for plenty of men from the country arc offering their services. Other business men have a similar tale to tell, and it is expected that the Carters' and Drivers' Union will soon declare the strike off in view of its iiselessness. With the. exception of the Cooks and Waiters, who went_ back to their work almost as precipitately as they left it, tho Auckland painters seem to have been the quickest to realise the futility of the "down tools" policy, and it is estimated that fully a third of tho members of this union aro now back at work. The strike leaders thought they would score- a great point'by calling out the men engaged in the erection of the Exhibition buildings, but here again their triumph has been short-lived, for yesterday seventy men Were again employed in this work and getting Wonderland ready. A still more decisive blow to the Red Federation is the return to work of the Auckland City Council employees. These mem were swept along by the sudden "down tools" movement on Saturday last. They acted in haste and quickly repented. They Were informed on Wednesday that they must report for work the following morning or their places would be filled, and, yesterday no fewer than 400 of them out of 500 indicated by going back to their employment that second thoughts had convinced them of the-utter futility of the course of action into which they had been

drawn by the Federation leaders. All these facts go to show that in Auckland, both on the wharves and in the city, the strike is rapidly breaking down, and that the complete restoration of industrial peace is now .well in sight. The Wellington strike leaders have ken trying to put heart into their dispirited followers by telling them of the <enthusiastio way in which the Auckland unions responded to the appeal for a general strike, but it will be very difficult for these orators to extract a grain of satisfaction out of the latest turn of events in the northern city. As a matter of fact, the so-called general strike has proved an even greater fiasco in Auckland than in Wellington.