LABOURS UNREST.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXII, Issue 2796, 29 May 1911, Page 3

LABOURS UNREST.

THE POSITION AT WAIHI.

APPREHENSION MANI-

Nested.

We learn that considerable uneasiness is being manifested at Waihi as to what will eventually happen in connection with the demands of Labour and the unrest that at present exists. The withdrawal of the Union from the . operations of the Arbitration Court was a step calculated to create apprehension and the fact that a large number of unions affiliated to the Federation of Labour have also similarly withdrawn would surely show^ that it is concerted and not individual action,

So far as the working conditions in the mines are concerned it has been

pointed out to us that the present trouble is really not with the company, but with the system, of contract in vogue. The men realise that some of the contractors have made and are making big wages and though wages men working for the contractors receive up to us per day it is held that the profits from the labour oi the body of men employed in the contract should be more evenly distributed —hence the desire to institute the co-operative principle, where all will share equally in the amount earned, without taking into consideration the actual amount of labour |»ut into the work by each and every man. Under the contract system the price has been gradually reduced and to make what was considered to be a satisfactory profit a system ot "speeding up "came into vogue—not a " speeding up "on the part of the company, but of those at the the head of the contracts. So lar as the wages men employed by the company are concerned they appear to be satisfied with their lot, and they niay be considered outside the actual realm of dispute—if such it can be called.

Formerly the company gave to parties 3s 6d per ton for breaking ore and after the work was put on the board the price was gradually reduced until now it is as low as 2s 7d. Thus the workers

object and urge that they are being penalised and that while they work harder so as to make the profit for the contractor they do not participate in any of the benefits secured from their labour. Against this it is pointed out that they are not called upon to share any financial responsibility and that it they are engaged at say us per day they are paid that amount whether the contractor through some unforeseen circumstance or happenings over which he has no control is suffering a loss on his contract. Mr Robert Sernple, the organiser ot the Federation of Labour, has been at Waihi tor some time and several important meetings have been held. The Socialistic portion of the miners have taken up a peculiar stand on several matters of more or less public interest —universal military training for instance —and have shown that they are decidedly out of touch with public opinion npon the point. Generally labour cir* cles have been considerably agitated of late and there is a growing feeling that the end is not yet. It is hoped that the introduction of the co-operative principle will satisfy the men and dissipate the apprehension of the public that something serious will yet happen in labour circles at Waihi. —Thames Star.