UNION OR DISUNION?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 572, 26 January 1929, Page 9

UNION OR DISUNION?

LABOUR IN N.S.W. TWO FACTIONS AT WAR (United P A.—Bp Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9.53 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. The Labour movement in New South Wales is still hopelessly disunited. The Australian Workers’ Union, the annual convention, of which is now being held at Coolangatta, has declared war on Communists or “Reds,” as they dub them, and claims that this faction is trying to wreck the Labour movement with the connivance of prominent people in the official Labour Council. The Australian Labour Party executive, in turn, argues that they, too, are trying to save the Labour movement from destruction, and are wooing the support of the Australian Workers’ Union, which at present is playing a lone hand. The Easter Conference of the Australian Labour Party is approaching, and the opportunity will be utilised to try to patch up the differences between these two units, but those behind the scenes assert that there is not the slightest hope of the Austrian Workers' Union effacing itself in this manner. The Labour Council, which is really representative of industrial trade unionism and the alleged Red element, has closed every avenue toward the reconciliation of the Labour forces.

INQUIRY SOUGHT

MOVE IN COAL CRISIS (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) SYDNEY, Friday. The Miners’ Federation has asked the Prime Minister, Mr. S. M. Bruce, to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into the conditions in the coal industry. The position in the coal industry remains critical. A meeting of colliery proprietors will be held next week, when it is expected that some definite action will be taken. In the last 12 months four collieries have gone into liquidation. The owners say the existing conditions cannot continue. The chairman of the Northern Collieries* Association to-day appealed to the miners’ representatives earnestly to consider the Government’s proposals for the stabilisation of the industry. He reminded them that an exhaustive investigation of the mining companies’ affairs had already been carried out. He solemnly warned the miners that the colliery proprietors were thoroughly united, and were prepared for any contingency, in order to rescue the industry from the desperate pass into which it had drifted.

NO FURTHER AHEAD

TIMBER TRADE DISPUTE (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) MELBOURNE, Friday. The conference of the parties to the timber dispute, which was called yesterday, was unable to reach a satisfactory agreement', since the union’s representatives expressed their intention to disobey the award, and to work only 44 hours a week. The employers’ secretary notified them that they intend to compel the observance of the award from January 31. Any employee who works for only 44 hours will have a pro rata deduction made from his wages.