THE STRIKE WEAPON

Hokitika Guardian, 27 January 1920, Page 3

THE STRIKE WEAPON

j HOW TO BE SCIENTIFIC.” SYDNEY, Jan. 6. Time was when a strike was an event of considerable importance—when it received in the newspapers about the same display as a minor war somewhere far ofT. To-day, in Australia, a strike is an uninteresting thing of common occurrence, which is treated by the newspapers almost as if it were a weather report or a market quotation. It only arouses public interest when it causes grave public inconvenience. It is accepted philosophically, , almost as a matter of course. A striker is no longer a man disgraced, as he was only I a few vears ano. I

! These things have come about main ly because of the pitiful and tragic ; failure of the Arbitration Court Unions of intelligent and moderateminded men sought the Court as a matter of course. In nine cases out of ten, they found the system a complicated and costly one. There were months of delay, and when they sought a clearcut issue, they were the victims of All sorts of harrassing technicalities and ■ embarrassments. Very often, when they got their award the v had cause to be much dissatisfied with it. The more extreme unions of. ignorant men, mainly because they were ignorant and evtreme, favoured direct action. When the strike Avon — and it did uncomforttably often—the contrast between the results of direct action and arbitration Avas too marked to be ignored. The strikers did not always get all they wanted, but they almost always got far more than the men who went quiet-

ly to the Arbitration Court. Naturally, the success of the strike—or rather, the comparative failure of arbitration—had a, marked effect on opinion, until to-day even moderate ' unions do not hesitate to threaten to j use and even do use the strike weapon, i That most proud and dignified organisation, the Institute of Marine Engineers, is to-day actually on strike. It struggled for weary months to get to the Arbitration Court, and Avhen it did it got a miserable award. The seamen and firemen struck— and got practically all they asked for, with the result that the engineers in many cases found ' themselves drawing less pay than the unskilled men they commanded. 'l'llere are so many strikes in Australia to-day that one cannot keep count of them. Heaven knows where these : -sectional disputes -are going to end. The latest development in the “ scientific ” strike: The workers strike “on the job.” They go slow, do their Avork badly, and embarrass and harrass the employer in every possible way. It is no use dismissing one man, the others simply increase the pressure. A man Avho does normal Avork during this time is in the same position as the man who works during an ordinary strike. The Sydney leather workers are non - on a “scientific” strike.