SAWMILL WORKERS’ DISPUTE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3656, 18 December 1920, Page 5

SAWMILL WORKERS’ DISPUTE.

THE BOX MILL STRIKE. ATTITUDE OF UNION. MEN’S STATEMENT OP POSITION. The following communication addressed fo the editor has been received from the representative of the King Country Sawmill and Timber Workers Union .at Ohutu; ' Sir.—Please allow us a space in your valuable columns to correct misleading impressions which no doubt your leading article of this evening will make on the public mind. To place the matter clearly before the public, requires only a history of the strike and how it came about. Nearly two years ago at a meeting of the employees of the Box Mill it was decided to form what is now ‘known "as the King Country Timbers Workers' and Sawmillers Union, which is a registered Union according to law, but not under the Arbitration Act. Mr Dengate, late enginedriver at the Box Mill was appointed first organising secretary, and - through his efforts about 500 men joined this union. After it was properly registered and a book of rules agreed to by the RegistarGeneral, Mr Dengate ? by means of a circular letter, made application to all the sawmill owners whose employees were members of the union, to recognise it and agree to meet its representatives at a round table conference and draw up a scale of wages and workable conditions; but unfortunately to this request the owners would not agree. Some were courteous enough to reply to Mr Dengate, but others simply ignored his letter. About this time Mr Dengate resigned and the work was taken. up by Mr Langstone who made two further applications to the owners to recognise the union, but both were ignored. About this time also, Mr Read, secretary of the Wellington Timber Workers’ Union had applied to the Arbitration Court for a new award and by arrangement with Mr Langstone he promised' not to cite owners whose employees were members of the K.C. T.W. and S.M. Union, but Mr Read cited all the mill owners in the King Country, and thus included all the workers (greatly against their will) in. his award.. This greatly agitated the minds of the men right throughout the: sawmilling industry of the King Country, and especially so when they remembered that at least three requests to meet their representatives had been ignored by the owners. You will "gather from the above statements that the award 5 made on the application of Mr Read was made against the wishes of the men in the King Country, and without even consulting them or their representatives as to wages * and conditions. This was really the beginning of the trouble, and especially so when the award proved to be quite useless when its contents were made known. Perhaps some of your readers will remember that Judge Stringer expressed the opinion that when the contents of the award were made known fo the men that they would be satisfied, but unfortunately Judge Stringer had. no information re wages and the conditions ’ work in the King Country. Mr Read made no inquiries and was therefore not in a position to enlighten the Court let alone fight a case for the workers, which is the duty and privilege of every union secretary.. The award "may have done ‘something to pour oil on the Troubled waters, and had it been of any value, but since that is not the it merely fanned the already burning ames. We could point to many cases where men are receiving 2/, 3/, 4/ and 5/ a day more than is provided by the -award, and we are quite safe—ln saying that it does not provide for more than 75 per cent of the different jobs at the mills. To further prove how useless the award is to the workers at the Box Mill, let me point out that although It does grant an increase to some of the lower paid men and boys, more than three mouths have passed, but up to the time of striking this increase had not been paid in full. But now to deal with a matter of more direct interest. About nine months ago a deputation from among the workers at the mill was formed and waited on the chairman of directors and the general manager to ask for* an increase in wages owing to the ever-increasing “cost of Jiving. The deputation, which represented all the employees at the works was kindly received, and after a short discussion, the officials of the company agreeff~T6 give a consideration all round, the amounts to bo agreed upon at a directors 7 meeting. Some six or eight weeks passed away without any reresults coming to hand; but finally it was announced that about 15 men out of the 40 then employed were granted a small increase varying from sixpence to 1/6 a day. Naturally, the remaining 25 were keenly disappointed, and althotfgh further efforts were made to get an increase for them the

position remained unchanged. This proved a heavy blow to the deputation and M fact to all workmen as those who did get the increase did not enjoy it to its full extent, knowing that most of their mates were left out in the cold.

Following after this some individual members of the workers asked for an increase in wages, but in nearly all cases the ’results were discouraging. The foreman of the yard workers quite lately applied for an increased wage on behalf of the men under him, but with the same disappointing result. Another, :deputation was spoken of among the men, btu remembering the disappointing results on the previous occasion the idea was abandoned. But to meet the ever increasing cost of living the men were compelled to do something/ and as a way out from under a heavy load, the officials of the K.C.T.W, and S.M. were invited to take up their case, and ask the employers to recognise the Union, meet at a round table conference and draw up a scale of wages and set of conditions suitable to both parties for a term of twelve months. This would have been a happy ending to all the trouble, as the agreement would have been the results of findings by men from both sides, who thoroughly understand the industry and the living conditions' in the King Country. However, the employers refused to take advantage of this friendly and reasonable method of settling the trouble; hence the men are on strike.

There are some other matters that might as well be mentioned while I have my pep* in my hand. The Company officials complain bitterly about the reduction in output, and hold this up as an excuse for not increasing wages. It is rather difficult to ac count for this reduction in output, but they may result from the follow ing causes: —(1) Machinery becom. ing old and many stoppages occurring; (2) On account of the high price of, timber the owners find that they can show a profit on very inferior logs, consequently these are brought in, and every possible foot of timber is cut out.

In spite of these and other things that might be mentioned, the officials seem to suggest that the mfn are to blame for this reduction. If this is so then it arises from the fact that the Box Mill is well known as one of the lowest paid works in the King Country, and for this reason men arc continually coming and going, new hands have to be broken in to new jobs nearly every day, which, ot course, makes direct for inefficiency. For this # reason the old and permanent men (although it hurts them very much to think that the output has been reduced) definitely refuse to accept any responsibility. ■ You also suggest that some devilish counsels must have prevailed. In other you say that .the men have been led astray. Have you ever thought what this means to workers and the employees concerned? .To me it suggests that if men can be led aw T ay from their work by a paid agitator, or even" a fellow workman, they can have very little respect for their employers, and the employers must have a very loose hold of the men; and this lack of respect and loose hold arises from the existence of unfair treatment in the past. Especially is this so in the case of the Box Mill where men have been in the employ of the Company for a number of pears. If any of us were employers of labour and the men left us in a body we would certainly ask ourselves a direct question. We would at least be honest with ourselves. If the' directors would do this, the trouble would end at once. When you suggest that the men have been led by the nose, you simply insult the intelligence of the men.