WHAT HAPPENED AT CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3083, 14 May 1917, Page 6

WHAT HAPPENED AT CONFERENCE

ACCOUNT OP THE PROCEEDINGS One of the conditions of the agreement recently made between the Government and the representatives of the New Zealand Coal Mine Workers' Federation being that a further conferenca of the parties should be held, the conference took place at the Wellington Chamber of Commerce on Friday lost. May 11. Both sides were fully represented, praotically the whole of the coal mining companies and the miners of ths Dominion having delegates prosent. Mr. T. Shailer Weston, president N.Z. Emplovcrs' Federation, presided. Mr. E. W. Alison, president N.Z. Coal Mine Owners' Association, acted ns chief spokesman for the employers, while the principal speakers for the Miners' Federation were Messrs. Jones, Arbnckle, Coppersmith, and Dowgrav. At the previous conference held at the end of February, and. which extended over eight days, the federation submitted demands consisting of i" clauses, with the intention of securing a Dominion agreement having. apniie.ition to all mines. The claims included one for 17i per cent, increase in va<res on existing rates of pay, equal to T7V per cent, on pre-war rates, while others of the demands proposed drastic alterations in workinir conditions which would still further and substantiallv increase the cost of production. At the conclusion of that conference the federation submitted eight clauses, which they insisted must be included in every agreement throughout the Dominion. The employers could not see their vsy to accede to these demands, and presented counter-proposals, including one for a. 5 per cent, war bomis to contract workers and 7} per cent, to all waxes men, in addition to the already exiting war bonus of 10 per cent, cm prewar rates. The federation representatives' declined to accept the emplovers' proposals as a settlement of the difficulty, thus terminating the conference. When the parties mot last Friday morning, the federation submitted for consideration by the employers—not only the 17 clauses previously dealt with, but three others in addition, and strongly urged that the whole of these should be again discussed, including, of course, the original domand for 17-J- per cent, increase in present rates of pay. As the 17 clauses originally proposed by the fedoration had been exhaustively discussed at the previous conference, the employers wero of the opinion it would bo a waste of time to again consider them.

The employers then retired to consider the position, and on their return intimated that owing to the diverse natural conditions, the different classes of coal,. and the varied methods of mining, it was impracticable to adopt any one set of working conditions to apply to all mines. Further, they saw no reason why the existing working conditions which have been framed as the result of years of experience' by. experts on both sides, and which are not in any way affected by war conditions, should be altered, especially as the miners in New Zealand are probably working under better conditions than those in any other part of tho world. Mine-owners' Last Word. The employers then submitted the following offer to the federation: — "That, subject to working conditions in all mines remaining as at present, the coal mine-owners ' offer an additional war bonus on pre-war rates of 7} per cent, to contract workers and 10 per cent, to, wages men, making, with the 10 per cent, war bonus previously granted, 17J per cent, increase to contract workers, and 20 per cent, increase to wages men, on pre-war rates. This agreement to remain in force during the duration of the war and for six months thereafter." It was also intimated that the above represented the utmost to which employers were prepared! to go, and must he accepted as their absolutely final offer. No Settlement. The miners' representatives then retired to consider the employers' proposal, and on their return suggested that the coal mine owners should reconsider their decision, and intimated they- were prepared to withdraw their full schedule of claims and to discuss with employers the eight clauses which at the last conference they insisted should be included in every agreement. The coal mine owners, however, declined to oonsider the suggestion of the miners' delegates, and again intimated that the offer which had been submitted was definite and absolutely final. The Miners' Federation representatives stated they could not agree to the proposal, and would not recommend its acceptance by the unions. The miners' delegates then withdrew, and the conference terminated. Case for the Employers. In arriving at the decisions contained in tho offer to the federation the coal mine owners gave tho fullest consideration to all tho facts in connection with the matter. As the working conditions of the mines throughout are so favourable to the workers, and are unaffected by the war, there is not any necessity to make auv alterations in the present well-established conditions. In view of the high wages earned by minors previous to tho "go slow" policy being adopted, the employers cannot admit that there is any reason why rates of pay should be increased. Any increase granted must be passed on to the general nnblic_ in co'.iscfiuciice of mining generally being unprofitable, as is evidenced by the fact that the majority of the coal mines of tho Dominion have not made adequate return nn the capital invested, many of the leadini companies not having paid dividends for a number of years. Notwithstanding this, however, the

coal mino owners realise that tho present war conditions render it essential that any possiblo grievance so far as wages aro concerned should be removed, and decided therefore to agree to pay an additional war'bonus which would result in tho wages of miners being raised 17} to 20 per cent, since the beginning of the war. If the offer of the additional war bonus had been accepted it would have meant the distribution of at least an additional ilVj.ooo per annum amongst the coal mine workers of tho Dominion. This, with the 10 per cent, war bonus granted last year, means that altogether an additional £135,000 per annum over pre-war rates would bo paid in wages, the whole, of which would have- to come out of the pockets of the coal consumers of the Dominion.

The employers feel that the offer mado is a liberal one, that they are justified, in tho public interest, in declining to do anything which would still further increase the price of coal, and that if tho offer is not accepted by tho unions, the only course for them to adopt is to take the necessary steps to have the matters in dispute dealt with under the provisions of tho Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, a course which the miners' delegates have persistently opposed. FURTHER NEGOTIATIONS EMPLOYERS WILL CONCEDE NO MORE. MINERS APPEAL TO MINISTER. The delegates of the Miners' Federation were with the Acting-Prime Minister for the whole of Saturday. In the evening, after tho miners had left him, Sir James Allen asked representatives of the mine owners to meet him, which they did. At that meeting the Minister submitted to them a proposal of the federation, that "the employers should grant in addition to the war bonus . some concessions in conditions of work. It is understood that what tlie miners asked was that the owners should reinstate in their offer the conditions which they had offered at tl!e February conference, but on that occasion the offer of these conditions was combined with one of a war bonus cf five per cent., and on this last occasion [the owners, v>ihile withdrawing their previous offer for amended conditions, said that they were willing to give an additional 2£ per cent, bonus. The miners had instructed Sir James Allen that if these extra concessions were granted they would be prepared to settle.

When the mine owners met Sir James Allen on Saturday evening, they informed him quite definitely that they would not in any way modify their previous offer, and therefore they would not give the conditions which the miners asked for. The miners' delegates met the Acting-Prime Minister again yesterday, and he informed tf em of the result of his interview with the mine owner)

There the matter rests at present. As they have inflated in thpir statement, the mine owners intend to cite all the unions individually under the Arbitration. Act, and they will prepare to do this forthwith. The unions hsive now three courses open to them: ihey may accept the offer -mads to them (assuming that it still stands), or they may take 1 their chances of bein<r ahle to got something better through the Conciliation Councils and the Arbitration Court, or thev may go on strike. Tf thev. go on strike thov may expect that the Government will take serious notice of their action. Tn this connection it is well to remember exactly what, the promise was that Sir James Allen made to them in the negotiations for the termination of the las'- strike. The proriu'so was that ho would do his host to arrange a conference with the employers, and ho promised no more than that. He made no promiso to heh) the miners in their negotiations with their employers. Indeed, ho informed them that they need net appeal to him for assistance if they failed to asree at the conference. He was therefore do-Jig more than he had contracted to do when he met the delegates on Saturday and acted as mediator for them with the owners. If the miners remain at work and take no further action they will have to come into the Conciliation Councils, which will he constituted to investigate, the dispute, and thev mav find that the omplovers have not put into their proposals any offer of an additional war bonus, over nnd above the t"n per cent. liomis already being paid.

WELCOME TO MINERS' DELEGATES NO TALK ABOUT CONFERENCE. A "public welcome-" to the miners' delegates was announced as part of tho programme of the usual Labour meeting in the Alexandra Hall last evening. It was probably expected that the delegates would have something to say to the meeting, but the chairman (Mr. H. Holland) stated at the outset that, for reasons which he need not particularise, the men lately released from prison would not speak. Five of tho delegates who had been imprisoned for having taken part in tho "go-slow" strike were with him on the platform, and at Mr. Holland's invitation, the audience of about a hundred pcoplo gavo them hearty plaudits of welcome. Mr. John Jones, president of the Coal Miners' Federation, said a few words of thanks, but he said he would not speak of the strike or of the present negotiations with the mine-owners. Ho did say a. word or two about the experiences of the men who, as ho put it, had been tho guests of Win Government in the Auckland boardinghouse._ "It has added," ho said, "to our store of experience, and experience, while a hard master is a perfect teacher. Speaking on behalf of the men who enjoyed the sojourn at Auckland with myself, I may say that undoubtedly the experiences will be teachers as far as the future is concerned, and we havo to begin now to be very careful. T don't know really what I can talk to you about. (Laughter.) I havo asked .the chairman what I can speak about, and he doesn't know. We "are in this position that wo have to talk to yon about the missus and the kids or bo condemned! for sedition. Therq' is nothing left outside of that, for myself and the other gentlemen to talk to you about." Referring more particularly to his experiences in prison, ho said: "T can tell you honestly we don't want it again. It was not so bad while the Auckland people looked after us so well with tucker. For a month the Auckland people saw that meals were sent in to us at the regular times. Of what happened after we were sentenced I will say nothing." At Mr. Holland's suggestion tho meeting carried by acclamation tho following resolution:—"That this nicotine while welcoming tho released miners' officials, -expresses its hearty appreciation of the manner in which their wants were attended to by the. working-class organisations and representatives in Auckland." Mr Holland then explained that he would fill i" the evening with a lecture entitled "The Drama of the Ages."