STRIKE DECLAREAD OFF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2727, 1 May 1924, Page 3

STRIKE DECLAREAD OFF.

MEN RETURN TO WORK. AFTER EIGHT DAYS HOLD UP. Wellington, Tuesday Night. < The strike is off. Interviews and conferences occupied the day and within about an hour of midnight, representatives of the A.S.R.S. announced that the strike had been declared off. Mr Connolly, President of the A.S.R.S. made the announcement in theses terms: — “The strike is called off from midnight. All members to return to work. Negotiations will be entered iuto with the minister at 9.30 tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.” A.S.R.S. PROPOSALS NOT ACCEPTABLE. MEN MUST RETURN TO WORK. BEFORE CABINET WILL CONSIDER DEMANDS. After giving the matter lengthy consideration, Cabinet refused the proposal of the executive of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, that a Commission of well known business men should be set 'up to discuss the railwayman's case. Further, the Government stipulated that work on the railways must first of all be resumed before the demands of the A.S.R.S. axe considered. The Minister of Railways > (the Hon. J. G. Coates) released foxpublication the following copy of a fetter sent to the General Secretary of the A.S.R.S. 2&th April, 1924. The General Secretary, Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. Dear sir, —With further reference to my letter of the 26th instant iu reply to yours of even date, in which your executive suggested the selling up of a committee of gentlemen not associated with the Government or your Society in connection with tiie present railway disputej as promised, the matter has been considered by Cabinet. i am directed to inform you that the proposals contained in your letter are not acceptable to the Government. Nothing- has occurred to justify any departure from the decision arrived at by the chairman of the first Board, and adopted by the Government, namely, that a proper decision on the matter of wages cannot be arrived at without considering all Lite demands comprehensively, and id' their relation to one another.

Further, as the Government deiinitely decided tiiat it would not submit to the demand made by the A.b.lv.fc>. under threat of strike, and as also the Society departed from the line of negotiation and adopted the strike method of endeavouring to obtain compliance with its demands, the Government cannot agree to discuss the subject matter of the “demands” with the A.ti.li.b. unless ordinary working has hrst been resumed in the Department. — Yours faithfully, J. - G. COATES. In considering the letter that has been received by the Hon. Minister of Railways from the general secretary of the, A.SJtLS., the following faets require to be noted, stated the Minister this afternoon: — 1. The Government, at the request of the A.S.K.S., set up a board to consider the claims of the Society. 2. The constitution of the board, and tUe chairman, were agreed upon between the Government and the . Society. The order of reference was also submitted to the Society, and approved by it. 3. The Society submitted seventytwo “demands” to the Board, the hrst being for an increase of 2/6 per day in wages. Many of the other demands involved considerable expenditure. 4. After the proceedings of the Hoard had continued for some time, tne representatives of the Society summarily terminated the same. The reason given for this action was that the Society insisted on the hrst question, namely, that concerning wages, should he considered in isolation Horn the remainder of the demands, lo this the chan-man would not agree. o. The Government has adopted the view that tne attitude of the chairman was correct, and has maintained that view throughout. 6. The Government was willing to negotiate with the Society, and negotiations. were actually nr progress wneh the Society abruptly terminated the discussion and submitted a demand for an immediate concession in wages under a threat of a strike. V 7. The Government decided that iu such circumstances it would not accede to such demand. 8. The Society forthwith declared a strike, and tins is still In progress. y. The Society now submits proposals: (a) That the Government should set up a new board consisting of a number of gentlemen whose names are stated by tbe Society; (b) that such a bear'd should consider- the Society's demand for an increase iu wages iirst and give a uecisioh thereon, and should afterwards consider the other demand made by the Society. The Society would call off the strike when the , proposed board commenced its sittings. • _______ \ STATEMENT BY PRIME : ' MINISTER. / ; , EXHAUSTIVE INQUIRY INTO WHOLE RAILWAY SYSTEM. Regarding the Railway position,

the Prime Minister said to-day:— “Naturally we are pleased that the -strike has come to an end and that industrial peace once more prevails. May it last for a very long time 1 .

“T know there were many men nnmrijr I he strikers who had no sympathy with the movement, and who realised the serious loss to the country entailed by every day's suspension of business. The Government, however, had I heir duty to do, and that was to stand up against any attempts to coerce them into doing what they knew would be a serious injustice to the great, hulk of (he citizens of (he Dominion, and would almost certainly lead to still

>re serious trouble. “I believe it will be admitted that, the result justifies the Government's action. One thing is quite certain: No section of the Public Service can be allowed to stop the whole business of the country in tbe way .that has been attempted recently. “T think what has happened has been a. lesson to most, people, especially to those men who were misled or coerced into going out. on strike. Incidents such as we have experienced do not. enhance or maintain the good reputation of this country. lam very glad that in (he and wiser counsels have prevailed.

“As soon as it can be managed the Government intends to arrange for an exhaustive enquiry by experienced men into the whole Railway system, including income and expenditure with a view to possible economies and the abolition of anomalies.

“It is quite certain that in 'the very hear future there will be serimis competition with the Railways from motor vehicles. However, annoying (hat may be we cannot use unfair methods to interfere with anything which promises to improve our means of communications. What we have to do is to bring about an all round improvement in our railway system organising it on up-to-date commercial lines, thus rendering it more useful and satisfactory to the public and therefore better able to hold its own with outside competition.

“On behalf of the Government. I desire to tiiank all those, both inside and outside the service. who came to our assistance and enabled the business of the country to be carried on, in most cases-, without any serious delays.”

NEGOTIATIONS RESUMED. Wellington, April 30. Messrs Connelly (president) and J. Mack (general secretary of the Ainalgmated Society of Railway Servants) discussed the present situation with the Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister for Railways, for about an hour to-day, making certain proposals to the Minister. A meeting of Cabinet was afterwards held, at which these proposals were considered, On being interviewed to-night however, Mr Coates stated that no definite decision had yet been arrived at. “The 72 demands made by the A.S.R.S. including the wages question, will have to be thoroughly gone into,” he added, “together with certain proposals that, the Government have to make, but the exact method of settling the .matter and the nature of the tribunal that will conduct, the inquiry, lias not yet been decided upon.” The same total absence of excitement or incident which marked lift- commencement of the strike, also characterised its conclusion today. The men reported quietly for duty at the customary hour, and were put. to work as required.

“WE WANT NO BITTERNESS.” LET BYGONES BE BYGONES. Christchurch Last Night. “We have tried to play the game right through and now we want no bitterness,” is the burden of a statement which the chairman of the Christchurch strike executive (Mr li. Hampton) handed to the Press representative after a meeting of the men at the Trades Hall to-day. The statement asserts that the executive tried throughout to prevent the strike spreading to other bodies of workers and to prevent disorder. In conclusion the statement says: “The executive are particularly desirous that there should be no aftermath of' bitterness so far- as tins trouble is concerned. The members of the E.F.C.A. in particular have taken up a certain attitude in this strike which may have irritated some of our men. Now that the strike is over we hope there will be no bickering or evidences of ill-will on either side. As far as we are concerned we think the right and proper attitude to take up te those who have differed from us in this dispute is to let by-gones be by-gones and we hope our men generally will adopt that attitude.”

LOCAL CONDITIONS. The whistle of the local locomotive announced the resumption of activities this morning bv an imitation of a cock crowing. AII men affected by the strike resumed duty this morning. The regular service between Foxton and Palmerston resumed this morning. This is the only pre-strike service running at present, other than the Wellington Napier. There was a fair number of passengers abqard and several trucks of produce for Palmerston N. consignees, held up since the Kennedy’s discharge on the 16th ult. A number of empty trucks were also transferred. The control of the local goods shed reverted back to the Railway Department this morning.