NO SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3016, 1 March 1917, Page 6

NO SETTLEMENT

THE COAL MINES DISPUTE NEGOTIATIONS ENDED UNION DELEGATES WITHDRAW WORKERS , DEMANDS EXPLAINED Tlio .conference between coal mineowners and the Miners' Federation ended yesterday in .1 definite rupture or' negotiations. No settlement was readied. The following is a statement from tho coal miners' represented at the conference :—

"The conference between the coal mine owners and the Miners' Federation, which lias extended over eight days, including many night sittings, terminated last night. The Miners' Federation pressed for :i conference with all the ooal mine owners of New Zealand for the purpose of .discussing proposals for. 'agreements covorinc all mines. In tho past .agreements have boon made between individual unions of mine workers and individual employers, such agreements being entered into under the; Industrial Conciliation aiid Arbitration Act, but on this occasion tho Coal Miners' Federation proposed a doparture from that custom, and demanded that all acreements be made with the Federation.

"They submitted demands, 17 in number, which included one for 17J- per cent, increase on present rates of pay. Others of the demands proposed drastic alterations in. present working conditions.

"The employers met on Tuesday, February 20, to consider the claims, and met the Federation representatives on the next day. After considerable general discussion it was decided to appoint six representatives from each side to confer, with tho object of determining a basis of settlement. This committee of representatives of both sides failed to come to any agreement on the points in dispute.

"On Monday the Federation presented a r.ew schedule of claims, consisting of eiaJii; clauses, which, they intimated, embodied their final decision, and they ,demanded that all theso eight clauses must be included in every agreement throughout the Dominion. These amended claims mode no mention of wages, but'no suggestion was made that there was to be any reduction of the Federation's first demand for an increase of 17J- per cent, on present rates of pay.

"These amended claims were cousidered by . the' mine-owners—the ; largest and most representative meeting of coal-mine owners ever held in tho Dominion —on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Tho owners unanimously agreed that the demands as submitted could not be conceded, and last evening they submitted to tbo federation their counter-proposals for settlement. In these counter-proposals, which represented considerable alterations in the present agreements, the employers offered certain concessions, with tho object of bringing about a settlement". But, in addition to these proposed , concessions in working conditions, the employers also 1 offered a war bonus of 5 per cent; to coal-hewers and truckers working on contract, and of"?!j-por cent, to alt wages men. During is.st year all the workers in the coal mines of the Dominion were given a 10 per cent, war bonus, and the further increase now offered would, if accepted, have made a total war bonus on ]>re ; w(vr rates of 15 per cent, to coal-hewers and truckers working on contract, and of I7i per cent, to all wages men. This extra concession of 5 per cent, and 7| per cent, is estimated to mean between £35,000 and £40,000 a year to the workers in tho coal-mines of tho Dominion. What tlie union asked for was an increase of 17} per cent, iu addition to the already, granted war bonus of 10 per cent. —a total increase demanded of 27i per cent, on pre-war rates. This was asked for not as a war bonus, but) as a permanent increase in wages. "These wages demands alone, taking no account of the demands for altered conditions, would mean an increase in the cost of winning coal of about £180,000 per year. Aβ coal-mining Keii£iall.Y is not a profitable enterprise in the Dominion at only a few of the mines earn a. profit for their shareholders —any increases granted must necessarily be passed on to the public in increased cost of coal. If the Federation's demands had been granted the increases, in the price of coal would have been considerable. Wo estimated that it would mean increases in th</ price of household coal of from Js. to ss. per ton.

"When the employers' final counterproposals were presented to the Federation delegates last evening, tho Federation delegates intimated that they could not agree to them, but that they would submit them 'to their several unions, feeling sure that the unions would endorse their decision.

"With reference to the earnings of workers in mines figures presented to the conference showed that the miners were earning average wages of from 14s. 7d. to 235. per shift. The average wages for miners throughout the Dominion would be about 17s. or 18s. per shift. The wages of truckers and other workers about the mines are specified in tho agreements. They vary from 9s. Bd. (in one or two mines only) to 125., or 13s. per shift. The mines are open for work all the year round, but, it is found that miners without necessity lose a considerable number of shifts in the course of the year. One of the demands submitted by the Federation was that wagos should bo paid weekly on Fr'idav afternoon, and that every Saturday should be an idle day."