MINERS’ DEMANDS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 131, 26 February 1921, Page 6

MINERS’ DEMANDS

NOT TO BE CONSIDERED A REPLY FROM THE MINEOWNERS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IF DEMANDS WITHDRAWN The new demands made recently by the Miners’ Federation have been considered by the executive of the New Zealand Coal Mine Owners’ Association. These demands include-.!: ql) A six-hour day, bank to bank, (2) a five-day week, (3) abolition of the contract system, (4) a minimum wage of £6 a week, (5) abolition of the afternoon shift, and (6) an effective voice in the control of the industry. It has been explained already that if these demands were conceded the miner would hew coal for less than five hours a day, five days a week. The drastic reduction of working hours, in conjunction with the abolition of payment by results, would "nvolve a verylarge reduction in the already inadequate output of the New Zealand mines. The Miners’ Federation, in presenting the demands to the mine owners, asked for a conference for their consideration. The Coal Mine Owners’ Association, in a reply that reached the federation yesterday, states that, it js willing to confer with, the federation regarding a new agreement, on condition 'hat the more extreme of the demands are withdrawn. The employers are not prepared to discuss, for example, the suggested six-hour day or the abolition of the -ontract system.

It appears that if the Miners’ Federation persists in making all these demands, the mine owners will not agree to a conference. The existing agreement will expire at the end of this month. The mine owners’ reply will lie considered by the -executive of the Miners’ Federation within the next clay or two.