COAL COUNCIL DECISION IS ADVERSE

Grey River Argus, 7 September 1948, Page 5

COAL COUNCIL DECISION IS ADVERSE

AUCKLAND, Sept. 6 Work will resume in the Macdonald, Glen Afton, and Pukemiro mines tomorrow. . By a three-to-one majority, strikers from the idle mines decided at a meeting in Huntly to accept the proposal by the Minister of Mines (Mr A. McLagan) that they return to work and refer the dispute to the Coal Mines Council. They have undertaken to start work the day after the council reaches a decision, and to abide by that decision whether it is in their favour or not. The council arrived at Huntly on Saturday night and to-day visited the Macdonald mine, where the dispute began on August 11. In the afternoon the council ’ met the mine management and the strikers’ committee to give its decision. Decision Accepted P.A. AUCKLAND, Sept. 6. The strike of the Macdonald, Glen Afton, and Pukemiro miners at ’Huntly has ended, and work will resume to-morrow. Advice to the men to report to the mines to-morrow morning was broadcast to-night, after a decision had been given on the dispute by the Coal Mines Council. An undertaking to abide by the decision of the Council, and to return to work once it was made., w.as given by the men on strike to the Minister of Mines. The claim by the strikers, that two of their number were entitled to a certain special payment, by right of custom, which was the basis of the strike, is not upheld by the Council in its decision. However. additional payment equivalent to 8s 6d per day is grantled to the two men involved for the I period they are engaged on the particular work. The Council states that it was unnecessary for any time to be lost over the dispute in view of the machinery available to settle it.