THE COAL DISPUTE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 111, 4 February 1920, Page 7

THE COAL DISPUTE

£; THE MINERS' CASE )0 ' FUBTHER STATEMENT BY ME. at . -AHBUCKLE. ho The secretary of the Miners' Federang tion, Mr. J. Arbuckle, replying to cornon ments of the Welfare League on the coal •Mt dispute, snid that the league was claimay ing the status of "watchdog" in the no public interest. "I have read a great le : many of the articles by the league," he n< l added, "but every one of them has been . at against organised labour. It has been IS " one great effort to condemn the organise '•]* tions and their officers. Not once have I us read an article attacking any set of em- . plovers or the people who have made mil- • lions out of sheer exploitation. That be- ," ing so, I have come to the conclusion " that the watchdog is chained up m tho '" employers' backvard, and whenever Labhe our comes and asks for a few crumbs he re makes a great noise and warns the public ,t. next door that organised labour.is out i r to rob it of some of its goods. At the to same time he allows the exploiters in M at the other side of the house, and they ry continue to plunder the noor old public 16 to their heart's content, while the public m listen'to the row of the watchdog wh" to leads them to believe and imagine all it sorts of things are going to happen. The in public after all are composed of 90 per cent, of the workers. So, nietliinks. <■ >e watchdog that will only watch on ado ig of the house is no watchdog at all." Mr. Arbuckle stated aciin . ; n reference to minors' earnings, that the average wage quoted ; n the Hoard of Trades report ner week per miner, working 1015 • to 101(1. is JS 15s. ner week. The nvem-o in 101(1-17 was £1 17s. per week, m 1017- >- 18 -E3 15= a week, and 1018 JK 17s. per iS week. "Fifty per cenl. nf Hie miners j'o not get a living wage," h.e added, "25 9 per cent, net near it. and 25 per cent, get a. good wage, showing that _ there } - are 50 Tier cent, bad places in a mine. 55 '■ per cent, fair,'and 25 per cent, good, but '• when the general average per day is made up it shows a little bettor result , than the outside labourer, and the wook--1 ly average less. But neither the dailv ; average nor tho big monev made by tho _ few can compensate the 50 per cent, who r are not making a liviu" wage. There can .' only be ono way to end this position, end that is to put all the minors on a day wage. There is n" reason why a worker ' in a coal mine will not work as well on ' w.T'os as a. man on tho surface. About ' half the men employed in the mines are » weikinc on dav wages, sn surely the other 3 half will v-nrk as honestly as those at i present working on day wages. 7 "If this system came into force then the wife of. the miner would know that. ; she was going to receive his regular [ wage, and not 'be living in dread of paydav comiii" and having to face the grocer with insufficient menoy (o pay fir her ' fortnight's pnods. The miner would nl=o \ know that be would be romiviiitr a certain wage and not be at Ihe merev nf j the boss on make-up day. as he is at I present. Do not forget there ere rerv j few managers at the prpsont dav that . do not beat the miner tr - ever ! penny possible. Ido not think Tam ! wrong in saying that there is ever a pay- ' dav goes'past but what the union lias got to fight the lxiss for some poor devil | to get what he is entitled to In* tho I agreement. Lot me quote von the p*. j ■ niession of one manager on the Coast ' to the men: 'Ton will never get anvflting from me without fighting and ink- 1 ing it to Court.' This will continue • a* long .as the. present system goes on. « Can you wonder tl.flt the miners v-'=h i to get rid of such a svfitem? The ( writer for (he league asks two questions: (11 Are the miners underpaid? Answer: ! Tes, the great bulk of them. (2) V\'lm ' are responsible for H'o earnings, if such 7 obtain? Answer: The employers who f eiv'oy them, _ < "There/ has boon a great deal snid as .1 to tho reason of no conference taking < place, and T wnnl. to sav right here that I tho whole, blame/ is on Ibe shoulders nf ] the coal owners. Mr. Alison said when c the last conference broke up: 'If yon c don't accept our offer you will rover meet us ngain.' Tip to date it has been t shown that he was right. After tho last a conference broke up, on failing to come o to an. agreement (and it failed because t the only offer from the owners was alO 1 n.nd 15' per cent, offer, and th-it only to I a portion of the federation), the miners t asked for a further conference with a j; (rovomnicnt representative to act as chairman, the Minister preferred. Mr. M'assey was then asked to call a compulsory conference. This was also refused. So'the miners had to do the best they could for themselves. They have never let n ehnnce go by without asking for a conference, being always ready to try and bring about a settlement of the dispute." 8I The offer mado bv the employers had s been rejected bv all th unions. "The n union." said Mr. Arbuckle. "-are deter- <' mined to accent nothing but a national t.l agreement and book of agreements, not n ono agreement such as suggested by the il owners, but on Ihe lines that everything a lhat applies nationally shoni'l be. put in w a national agreement. Then other a things, such as tonnage rates, that will fi onlv anply to each district or union, tl could, be placed in the back of the p' agreement. Anv fool knows that the " same tonnage Tafcs could not anply in tl the south and on tho Coast, as the ai owners and others would try and make <"■ the public think Mint lhat was what we T wanted. We will give this guarantee: ti (hat anything we ask for to be placed tr in the national agreement will be only ri iw c fiune-s that annly to all mines. N Now, T think that anv man of common- n '■ensn wi'l admit that the offer of a conference by the employers was one, that, or I'lev knew would be turned down. _ All in that is asked for by the miners is o. rr conference with no restriclions and a ai f-.fr de.il ''mil the owners, and the coal fie dispute will soen lie =etHed. Tn conelu. N siou. T would Re to .-sic Ihe write.- fo- m Hie league to deal wilh the position of m the two "liners who produced the 17" fr tons nf coal, or 10 tons per dav, and D never had 15s. per dav. and which re.il m was worth, at the mine mouth. £118. co and in Wollincrnn .f.VS. Also what he of (hii'Ve n f men having to produce coal for sr Is. Ild. ner Inn. which is peld in AYol- of linglon for .Ci Ifls. per (on." »« - — on A. meeting of (lie New Zealand Coal ed Mine Owners' Association is tn be held in in Wellington (o-dav. The matters for Ai diseii.-sinn ippl-ln Hip -v-lim. 0 f the dispute with the Miners' Federation ho regarding wages and enndfions of work. he