THE COAL MINERS

Hokitika Guardian, 19 April 1921, Page 4

THE COAL MINERS

CONFERENCE WITH OWNERS. HOLIDAYS, WAGES AND STRIKES. WELLINGTON, April 15 The wages and conditions which shall rule in the New Zealand coalmining industry are once again under review. To-day a conference was commenced bcOwners’ Association and the Miners Federation for the purpose of considering the latter’s demands for a new agreement to replace the national agreement which expired recently, after having been in operation for one year. Those present were:— Representing the Mine Owners’ Association—Messrs W. Reece (WestportStockton Mining Company), Robert Lee (New Zealand Coal and Oil Company), Colonel W. D. Holgate (Northern. Hikurangi, and Wilson’s Colliery Companies), Walter Leitch (Mount Torlesse Colleries, Limited), Edward S. M ight (Pukemiro Colleries, Limited), J. G. liinn (Westport Coal Company), M • Handyside .Nightcaps Colleries, Limited), T. 0. Bishop (acting-secretary of association). . • Representing the Miners’ Federation —Messrs T. O’Rourke (president), J. M’Bride (vice-president), J. O’Brien (North Island), W. Braidwood (South Island), W. Balderstone (Grey district), F. Grant (Buller district), J. Arbuckle (secretary).

Mr A. 11. Kimbell, Under-Secretary for Mines, was present, but not as a delegate. After some discussion it was agreed that he should act as chairman. In reply to the chairman, Mr O’Rourke said that seven hours per day bad been conceded in Australia. No coal miners anywhere had been winceded a fortnight’s holiday. Mr Arbuckle said that the officials and the staffs of mining companies were given a fortnight’s holiday on full pay each year. Bank clerks, too, wore given a holiday, but such consideration was never given to miners.

Mr O’Rourke asked why a fortnight’s holiday on pay should not be conceded.

Mr Reece said that it was a question of cost.

Mr O’Rourke: Then owners’ profits come before miners’ health. The man who works underground tor twelve months is surely entitled to that holiday.

Mr Wight (Pukemiro) said that it was entirely at the miners option to go into the mines to get coal. There was nothing in the law of the country to compel a miner to go into a mine. Mr Arbuckle: There is the economic law. He must go or starve.

Mr Wight referred to the allegation as to tools at cost- price*. These were being provided in the Maikato mines. It had taken time for the tools had to he got in England. If the six-hour day was tried in fhe Taopiri Extended Mine, the men would not he lour hours at the face.

Mr Arbuckle suggested that the system of transport should he modernised. It was not economical to transport men on the endless rope system.

Mr Wight said that there was a 10 per cent absenteeism from work at the face.

Mr Balderstone: That is due to ymu own negligence.

Mr Wight submitted that it was voluntary absenteeism. The men at the Pukemiro Mine, if they worked the time available for them, could earn LIOO a year.

Mr Arbuckle: Taking the time of the lockout and hall days lost and so forth?

Mr Wight: Takhir M>o time available. 1 will give you the figures. The general average earnings for the miners at the Pukemiro mine was 30s 4d per shift. The mine was open for work for 2(50 days in the year.

Ur Arbuckle: You say 200 days. Does that include the three weeks they vere locked out?

Mr Wight: Yes. I say the mine was open for work for 260 days, and the average earnings of the miners were 30s •Id per shift. Multiply the two, and you got £4OO a year. Mr Arbuckle: You state that the average earned per shift was 30s 4d. Will you tell us how many men earned under Cl per shift? Mr Wight said that he was not afraid to give the whole of the figures in his possession. For the year 1920, the mine was actually open for 215] days. The mine was closed for the billowing reasons: —Three days on account of the railway strike, three days owing to shortage of explosives, thirteen award holidays, forty-two days owing to a strike of miners, seven days for stop-work meetings, one and three quarter days owing to shortage of waggons, half a day owing to a machinery accident, twenty-six days (pay Saturdays) and fifty-two Sundays. Mr Arbuckle strongly objected to the statement that forty-two days were lost as a result of a. strike of the men. They might have been on strike for twenty-one days.

Mr Wight, resuming his statement, said that seventy-eight miners were employed on the face in the Waikato mines. They worked 14,248 shifts at an average wage per shift of 24s lOd, including ten weeks go-slow, when the a garage earned per shift was only 15s Bt)d. The total time lost was fortynine days in the year, and, if the men had worked normally whenever the mine was open, they could have earned an average of 30s 4d per day, or £7 17s 4d per week all the year round. -Ur Arbuckle: A very high average.

The discussion then turned on the question of the Huntly strike last year, which Mr Wight said was the result of the refusal of the Government or the company to pay the difference between suburban fares and ordinary fares of the miners going to work. The union did not care whether the mine was filled with gas or water. Therefore, the company insisted that the pump men and engine drivers should not belong to the Miners’ Federation. Work was resumed when the federation gave an understanding that pumping and ventilation would continue in the ©vent of further trouble. Mr Arbuekle: You cot no such understanding from the Miners’ Federation, Mr Wight: 1 believe we did. I say so, in any case. Tf I am wrong, very well. Mr O’Birien made a statement that the union did not call out the pump and ventilation workers at Huntly. To this Mr Wight heatedly relied that

Mr O’Brien was not telling the truth. Tf statements such as that were made, it seemed to he useless to go on with the discussion.

Colonel Holgate said that Mr O’Rourke had pointed a graphic picture of men crippled in the mines. He was fairly familiar with the mines in the north, and he could combat this and give instances. There was no more risk working in a coalmine than on a tramcar. Surely the proposal for a sixhour day was not made seriously. It would ruin the industry. The price of coal was already very high, and would have to come down. A Miners’ Representative: Not at the expense of the miners. Mr Holgate said that the six-hour day would kill the industry. A Miners’ Representative: It has not killed it in Germany. Mr D’Rourke put down Colonel liolgate’s statements to his innocence. If the price of coal had to come down, let the owners reduce it out of their pu>fits, or send representatives abroad to find how to handle coal in big qunntij eSi If the conditions about the mines were improved, more men would be available to work in them. The owners had made pie-crust promises which they had not fulfilled. Miners had left the mines and were working on the wharves and in the hush. The “slaves” realised that the mines could be worked without the mine owners.

Mr Reece: Without capital? Mr O’Rourke: Without capitalists. Mr Arbuckle said that conditions in the New Zealand mines were the worst in the world. The miners wanted their hours reduced, the same as others. He would like to see set up an independent tribune consisting of workers’ representatives, owners’ representatives and a Government representative. Mr Brown said that if a five days’ week was granted, the men would want to work less than that. •

A miners’ representative claimed that the miners were entitled to payment for holidays just the same as State servants.

The conference adjourned till 10 a.tn to-morrow.

CONFERENCE FAILS. WELLINGTON, April 18. The ‘negotiations IxitWcen the coal owners and the coal miners have broken down. THE OWNERS ATTITUDE. As soon as the Conference yc-assembl-ed this afternoon, Mr Reece, on behalf of the owners, said they had given the miners’ demands their serious consideration. They had come to the conclusion that the demands were practically the same as were submitted in 1919. and again last year. It was therefore evident that both sides had had ample time to think over their demands. The decision of the Miners Federation to insist on the whole of their demands must be taken as the n alt of careful consideration, and not merely as a hasty statement, made in the heat of debate. The owners, after most careful investigation were compelled to reply that an increase ihi the cast of coal would result therefrom. This increase would cripple the mining industry. and would he disastrous to th c industrial life of the country as a whole.

Mr Reece said that the owners had expected that the miners’ delegates would put forward some souhd arguments in support of their demands, butt they were disappointed. The minors delgates had contented themseh es with making entirely unjustifiable and unfounded statements as to the renditions existing at the mines, and have failed to substantiate their case. The figures submitted by the Mines Department representative in 1919, ha said showed that had the miners demands for a six hour day, a five day week, a fortnight’s holiday on full pay, and the abolition of the contract system, bren been granted, the cost of coal at the mine would have been more than doubled since August 1919 there had been a considerable increase in the cost at the mine, and if the present demand, of the miners were granted, tile already high cost of coal would he further increased by 100 per cekit. Under such conditions no New Zealand mines could exist against outside competiton. For these reasons, said Mr Reece, the mine-owners felt that it was their duty to say quite plainly that they could not entertain the proposals made by the Miners Federation.

THE MINERS’ CASE. WELLINGTON, April 18. At th 0 Coal Conference, Mr Piter O’Rourke (President of the N.Z. Miners’ Federation) replied to the statements of Air Reece. Mr O’Rourke said the miners challenged the statement that their demands were unjustifiable. He said that it appeared that the miners were to be denied any opportunity of debate. The miners felt that they have not been fairly treated. The owners have admitted they are charging 18s. or 19s. per ton for coal more than the State mine. Yet the State Mine was carrying on. Thc oeople of New Zealand had the right to know how this came about. They had a right to know why the c.oal industry could not stand any extra charge. Mr John Arbuckle (Miners’ Secretary) said the statements made by the miners' delegates were absolutely truo. They could be borne out by the Check Inspectors’ reports. He said that the owners were their own judge and jury, and they brought in a verdict to suit themselves. After passing a vote of tha'nks to the chairman the delegates left the room.