THE BLACKBALL STRIKE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9141, 9 May 1908, Page 5

THE BLACKBALL STRIKE.

CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES

AND DIRECTORS

Per Press Association.

Christchurch, May 8. The two delegates who were sent to Christchurch by the Blackball Miners’ Union to place the Union’s suggestions before the directors of the company were received this morning. The suggestions placed before the directors were stated by the delegates to be those on which the Union would advise the men to return to work, and were as follows : 1. That the seven men dismissed on February 26th should be reinstated, and that the mine manager should undertake not to victimise the seven men.

2. That the miners will agree to come out and truck when required for two hours out of the eight hours they are underground,' the .miners doing this work to he selected by rotation. B. That the Union will allow two truckers to work overtime when required on the special work of attending to the crane and terminal of the endless rope, which requires expert hands; the crib time to be 30 minutes.

The directors were agreeable to the following terms :

1. The seven men dismissed to be reinstated, and the mine manager undertakes not to victimise them. 2. The crib time to be 30 minutes. 3. All other conditions to be as laid down in the award of the Arbitration Court, and the same as were in force previous to February 26th, when the men went on strike. Tbe directors had from time to time been informed through the newspapers and the strikers’ statement that the half- hour crib was the sole reason for the men remaining on strike. They, therefore, ;had every reason to expect that the terms proposed would be accepted by the Union, as the only point on which there was any divergence in the terms was the question of overtime. This matter and it was pointed out by the delegates that Rule 24 of the' Union rules, which had been in force since 1905, provided a penalty of 10s for each offence on any miner being a member of the union who worked more than eight hours . underground. It was contended that'jjthis rule applied to truckers as well as miners, and it was further pointed out that for the last eight years ,‘the truckers had worked overtime when required, being paid time and a quarter for so doing, and the rule liad not hitherto been enforced. The Arbitration Court award:provided for overtime being worked, as well as fixing the ordinary hours of work as eight hours underground. Owing to the limited capacitj - of the aerial tram it is necessary to work overtime in order to despatch the steamers within the tides.'! Missing a tide frequently means a delay of a day or more, through the bar being unworkable, and consequent loss of the sale of coal and idle time at the mine. This overtime was not as a rule required every day. The truckers are only asked to work this overtime until the railway is finished when overtime will be unnecessary. Furthermore, the full output of the mine was required, and in order to secure this it was absolutely necessary that all the miners should work, their six hours and forty minutes that they will be actually working at the face, and to take the miners off to do trucking for two hours out of this six hours and forty minutes would reduce the output and would not be’satisfactory to the management. 3'The directors were prepared together with the Union to state a friendly case on tbe overtime,, question for the Arbitration CourtTo decide ; also as the men have been on strike for ten weeks out of the ten months’ time estimated by the Government as necessary to complete"the railway, and it is conceivable that it may be prudent to close the mine until the railway is finished, the company’s clients have \made arrangements for the supply of their requirements. and its colliers are fully occupied under the charter arrangements —the delegates having stated that they had not power to bind the Union.

It was agreed to report to the directors their suggestions.

They leave on their return to the West Coast by to-morrow morning’s train.