ARAPUNI DEADLOCK

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 71, 15 June 1927, Page 13

ARAPUNI DEADLOCK

TROUBLE OVER TWO MEN QUESTION OF OVERTIME “ALL WORKERS BEHIND STRIKE” (THE SUN'S Special Reporter.! ARAPUNI, Tuesday. The only people not affected by the strike at Arapuni are the school-chil-dren. With them it is business as usual. The actual peg whereon the. strike is hung is the case of two men described on the company's books as plumbers’ mates. On June 6 they worked the ordinary day shift till 5 p.m., arid resumed from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to attend the pumps. During the night something went wrong with the pumps, and they received an emergency call at 3 a.m. From then they worked right through to 5 p.m. For three hours the night before they were booked at time and a-half, and for four and a-half hours before the ordinary starting time next morning they were booked four hours at time and a-half, and half ail hour at double time. The company contends that this was in accordance with the previously established principle, that if there is such a case, the overtime should be counted as on two separate days, while the union asserts that the men having worked seven and a-half hours during the night were entitled to payment for three and a-half hours double time. The position between the men and the employers is that when the operations began, the contractors arranged to group all separate unions under the New Zealand Workers’ Union, so that disputes could more conveniently be dealt with. A general agreement covering all classes of workers employed on the job was drawn up; but the union asserts that this has been broken repeatedly. A “DEFENSIVE” MEASURE Mr. J. Kelly, president of the ; Workers’ Union at Arapuni, said this morning that the company’s practices had compelled them to call a defensive strike. Breaches of the agreement had been going on for months. Motor-drivers, for instance, had not been paid proper rates, and the contractors had declined to recognise the local union. “We offered them a conference at nine yesterday morning, but they refused. Now it is their move. They will have to climb down within the week.” Mr. Kelly added that Armstrong, Whitworth’s had often tried to override local union officials. The company was taking advantage of the special skill of the two men principally concerned in the dispute, and was paying them Is IOJd instead of the 2s 3d, which they were entitled to when doing fitter’s work. “The whole body of Arapuni workers,” he said, “is behind the strike —quarrymen, wellborers, motordrivers, pump hands are all out.” He emphasised that it was purely a defensive strike. They were asking only the agreement should be observed. “If they put on free labour there will be trouble. The day has passed when we will tolerate that.” Mr. J. B. Williams, organiser of the New Zealand Workers’ Union, arrived from Auckland yesterday. This morning it v/as rumoured that he was calling a meeting for this afternoon. Mr. Kelly denied that this was so, and said the rumour was started by one or two who were trying to scab on the main body of the workers. LEADER OF THE STRIKE Mr. Kelly, who in effect is the leader of the strike, is a young man, formerly a Cumberland miner, who came to New Zealand in 1920. He served in the war with the Twenty-ninth Division, /winning the Military Medal. Before leaving England he participated in the 1919 coal strike. In New Zealand he worked in the West Coast mines, participating in the 1923 lockout. He then came to Arapuni, working in the diversion tunnel, where he met with a serious accident. Mr. L. Lake, secretary of the union, is also a British ex-soldier. He was a captain in the Imperial Army, and was decorated with the Military Cross. Most of the men idle through the strike are lounging round the huts Yesterday afternoon a Rugby match was played between a spillway team and a dam-site team. This afternoon another match will hold the interest of the strikers. “ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL” COMPANY’S VIEW OF STRIKE Meanwhile the company is playing a waiting game. Mr. A. Whitley, official representative in New" Zealand, stated this morning that they regarded the strike as altogether illegal. They would not make themselves a party to illegal proceedings by negotiating with the men unless the workers returned to the job. He quoted figures and agreements to show that the company had observed the agreement in every particular. Furthermore, the company had throughout done its utmost for the comfort of the men, making conditions as congenial as possible in such circumstances as existed at Arapuni. | Referring to the case of the two men whose position precipitated the strike, be said an informal conference was held last Friday, when Mr. Lake agreed that Mr. Handman's interpretation of the overtime clauses was correct. After that, the company received no further intimation of trouble, except that notices concerning Sunday’s meeting were posted. One of these notices was as follows: “Roll up and see how the bosses treat your fellow wageslaves.” The next thing the .company heard, went on Mr. “Whitley, was an intima-

tion to Mr. Lind well that a strike would start at midnight on Sunday. Mr. Lin dwell told the men that they were stupid to strike. HOW many men voted? An interesting point is that Mr. Kelly says 200 men were present at Sunday’s meeting, the decision to strike being unanimous. Mr. Whitley, on the contrary, said he had been led to' understand that only 50 men were present, of whom 16 were opposed to the strike. Yesterday and this morning cement was pouring in from Whangarei, and big stacks threatened to accumulate. The Putaruru Company, therefore, has ordered a cessation of supplies until work resumes.

If the dispute is prolonged, this stoppage may be serious- for the cement workers at Portland, near Whangareu