WAIHT MINERS' DISPUTE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 155, 26 March 1919, Page 8

WAIHT MINERS' DISPUTE

OFFER BY THE COMPANY,

By Telograph-Prcss Association,

Auckland, March 25. The management of the Waihi -Gold Mining Company has handed the folloiving statement for publication: "The position at Waihi continues unchanged. The seven exempted men, standing on their right to withdraw from any organisation whose policy they do not approve, and their exemption having been granted at the November, conference, continue firm in their refusal to join the union. The company has offered- to' meet tha difficulty bv paying the union fees and the'levies o"f the seven exempted men if the union can arrange for the names of the men to be entered on'the roll of the union as a matter of form."

In' response to a request from Mr. Poland, M.P., for a further conference, the company has telegraphed as follows: "A conference apparently would be useless, because tho men: were specifically exempted by the agreement, and the company has failed in its attempt to persuade them to rejoin the union and cannot discharge the men, who assisted to form an arbitration union in 1912. If trouble' to hundreds ensues, as you suggest, I must remind you that it will be the deliberate action of the union for a trumpery reason. I suggest that the union's new executive stick to the agreement, and I will then pay the entrance fees, dues and legal levies of tlie 66von exempted men while in the Waihi Company's employ, if the union 6imply places their names on the roll of'unionists and merely regards theni as members without having made application, As a matter of fact, these exempted men already hold union views, but differ from the opinions held by the executive of the Waihi Union."