LABOR UNREST

Taranaki Daily News, 1 March 1919, Page 5

LABOR UNREST

LABOR CONFERENCE OPENED. BRITISH CABINET MINISTER PRESIDES. London, Fes>. 27. An industrial Conference of SOU delegates, representing ten million employera and workers, lias opened Willi Air Horne, Minuter of Labor, presiding. lie announced that the unemployment donation had been extended for another 13 weeks at the reduced rate of iOs for men and lis for women.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. SENSIBLE ADVICE BY UNION SECRETARY. London, Feb- 23., Mr Appleton, secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions,-> says the Federation's reserve, or £265,000, ought to be sufficient to meet the needs of all welldirected schemes to sepurc improvements in wages and hours, but the presest tendency to rush, into strikes endangers the funds and requires a sum much larger than the federation possesses. The management committee is gravelv concerned over strikes engineered for political purposes. .Nothing can so surely promote future unemployment as the destruction of confidence. At the present moment the committee promises the fullest support for the executive who manage their unions not in accordance with the demands of selfish or excited partisans.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. THE MINING INDUSTRY. Loddon Feb. 23. The Evening Sandarrt states that the Colliery Owners' Association has adopted a scheme for ioint councils of ownera and workmen to manage certain mines, enabling the men to study the Question of working costs. The joint councils would fix wages. The owners l>elieve that the result would be coorerotive management. It is understood that, of the sixteen of Mr Justice Sankey'a Coal Corrimission. half are Lahorites, with miners predominating, and the other half represent coal owning, shipping, engineering, steel-making and financial interests. There was considerable difference of opinion at the Miners' Conference Tt is understood that Mr Smillie advocated the acceptance of the GovernTivnl's ilTer nnd the appointment, of miners' delegates to the Industrial Commission, which is to open on February 27. The-Miners' Conference postponed the cfrit-e notices for a week. The industrial conference appointed a committee fo consider wages, hours, unemployment, and the co-operation of capital ind labor, to renort to a further conference on April 5. AUSTRALIAN SYMPATHY WITH BOLSHEVIKS. Melbourne, Feb. 2S. The agenda paper of the Ijibor Con' fcrer.ee to be held in April, asks the conference to express sympathy with the Russi.m Bolsheviks in emancipating the Russian masses and to record admiration of the Spartacus party in Germany. A further motion asks that no articles relating to or extolling wars and battles or the heroes of past wars tie printed in the State school papers and that peace ideals be inevdeated in schools.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. DISPUTES REFERRED TO ARBITRATION. Received Feb. 28, B.f>r> p.m. London, Feb. 27. The Ministry of Labor states that 30 labor disputes are being referred to arbitration this week, including that of the boilermakcrs (who claim a twenty per cent, advance) and disputes affecting the engineering and shipbuilding trades.— Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association and Reuter,