TIMBER STRIKE

Hokitika Guardian, 5 August 1929, Page 8

TIMBER STRIKE

POSITION A MYSTERY. • ,! AUSTRALIAN RECORD. SYDNEY, July 25. Who is winning the timber strike in New South Wales—the men or the employers? No one can tell, and the leaders on both sides apparently intend that the mystery shall remain. • All along there have been boasts from the employers, and from the men that they will not give way, and so when'work is resumed at any of the yards the terms under which it is arranged are kept a dark secret. The position is an extraordinary one, but quite in keeping with the extraordinary nature of the strike, which has now run for six months.

This week another big Sydney yard recommenced operations, and while a claim is made in statements issued on behalf of the management that the Lukin award, the cause of the whole trouble, has been accepted by the men, union leaders declare that the terms are satisfactory, f and that the men have made no sacrifices in resuming duty. The firm concerned was a member of the Timber Merchants’ ■ Association, and union leaders anticipate that settlements will be mpde this week with several other members of the Association. On the settlements so far reached the Association has main-, tained a silence, and it seems impossible to obta’n a reliable account of tne negotiations which have been successful in several instances. .

Work is proceeding smoothly in Melbourne under the agreement arrived at there some weeks ago—a compro-. mise about which.there was no> secret. Each side made sacrifices, but the disputants, in Sydney are not of the same ilk. Perhaps it is because the striking workers are receiving such splendid' financial support from other unions. One of the strike directors in Sydney announced publicly the other day that the strikers .are as well of to-day as ever they were. Money was rolling i. and the measure of relief almost equalled tiie pay the men received when they had td work for their living. This seems to be an exaggeration, for it has been shown that if the men had been at work they would have received a total of £310,5b0. However, U, is known that every striker in .Sydney has received more than £2 a week ever since tiie fight began; as well as certain supplies ror the household. In addition all the strikers have declined to pay rent. It was in connexion with the timber y strike the'Mr J. Garden, secretary of the Sydney Trades Hall, made a speech which has maintained his reputation lor fiery utterances. “We are not going to yield," he said at Newcastle the other day. “We are not worried. Those who are worried are the police and those fellows who had sore heads, and the bosses. We have got the bosses where we want them." Referring to the operations of the so-called “basher" gang, those gangs of strikers or their agents who have been assaulting the otherwise intimidating volunteer workers, he was asked whether he would repudiate those men who were serving terms of imprisonment for assaults. His answer was No. Their methods are not his methods, but they were getting results. The volunteer workers should be asked whether wiose men were getting results. He called them men and he wished he had the courage they had. He raised, his hat to them. Only ten men out of approximately 2300 had scabbed. Butchers were giving full supplies of free meat. Bakers were giving more bread than was needed. Time payment firms were keeping their promise not to ask timber workers for a further payment on goods supplied until the strike was over. The majority of the landlords had not pressed for rent. Some 27 had put in the bailiffs; but the furniture distrained had been bought back in each case for between £3 and £6, and the landlords had lost rent up to £3O. Mr Garden said that in Melbourne lie had told the men when they were out on strike that if they were hungry there was nothing to stop them from going into a restuarant and eating their fill. It would be the restaurant keepers’ worry. What happened afterwards, lie enquired, and he answered his question by saying that in a little time one restaurant keeper alone offered 300 free meals a day.

And so, with all these extraordinary happenings, the timber strike must be regarded as an extraordnary one. In many ways it is typically Australian. The same sort of things would happen in no other part of the world. In no other country would a Government prove so futile and helpless.