THE STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1920, Page 5

THE STRIKE.

MARINE ENGINEER? ■ PROCLAMATION CONDEMNED. By Telegraph/-Press Assn—Copyright. Received Feb. 20, 7.20 p.m. ' Sydney, Feb. 20. The Labor Council has issued a manifesto condemning the action of the Fedoral Government in closing down the funds of the marine engineers and in preventing anyone from rendering them assistance as one of the greatest attacks ever made on Unionism in Australia, and calling all Unionists to stand behind the engineers. The manifesto adds: Any shirking of the issue will now encourage our foes to strike again and again until Unionism lies vanquished beneath their feet. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn,

STRIKERS WANT TO RESUME. Received Fob. 20, 10.10 p.m. Melbourne, Feb. 20. Engineers of the Federal fleet desire to return under the terms oli'ered and are endeavoring to obtain the executive's permission to resume. The marine engineers' losses to date approximate £30,000. Victorian engineers regard the proposals to buy the Island fleet as frivolous. The executive has neither the money nor the administration to run the line.

HISTORY OF THE DISPUTE,

DISLOCATION OF INDUSTRYThe stv I '-" >f Australian marine engineers is now in its eleventh week. Practically all inter-coastal traffic has been brought to a standstill, and the consequent dislocation of industry is rapidly bringing about a critical state of affairs. At the end of January it .-.s estimated that 25,000 men were idle in Austnu ' a result of the strike. In Sydney alone over Iu.HOO workers have lito ; . •.iirown out of employment, 10,000 of whom beleng to the Transport Workers' Federation. In Melbourne the number nf unemployed is considerably over 7000, including 1100 wharf laborers. Owing to the cutting off of mipplies of coal from the East, drastic restrictions of the consumption of gas and electricity have been enforced in Melbourne. The great smelters at Port Pirie, customarily employing 2000 workers, are now almost entirely shut down. The whole of the meat canning factories in New South Wales have been closed. In North Queensland intense privations exist owing to the flour shortage caused by the strike.

The engineers are now claiming now rates of pay, ranging froni £lO 5s a. month for junior engineers to £Ol 10s a month for chief engineers on ships of 1000 tons and over. The last offer made by the Common wealth Shipping Controller on behalf of the shipowners ranged from £l!> to £sl. Thus the full claims of the lower-paid men have practically been mted, and the main question at issue ...nccnis *,.np lushest-paid engineers. THE QUESTIONS AT ISSUE. The engineers base their claims on the percentage increases recently granted to firemen _ hi a statement issued on February 7 they set forth their case as follows:—''The fact that the firemen's wages in six years have been advanced by ('0 per cent, that is, from £lO in 1913 to £1(1 now current, and that during the same period the highest paid chief engineer had advanced a fraction of 10 per cent, only, and the junior engineer by "29 per cent., justifies our claim as a fair and reasonable one. It is found by careful analysis that the present rate the high'est-paid chief engineer in America is live .time's that of his fireman; in Britain the same chief receive?, four times the pay of his fireman, but in Australia the highestgrade chief receives only 2.0 times a fireman's pay,, while the lowest-paid engineer of an inter-State vessel comes down to 1.7 times the pay of a fireman. The unfortunate junior is found in the humiliating position of being rated at 10s per month less than the fireman of his ship. Nor should it be forgotten that at the present time their feilowjunior engineers in America receive I.S times and Ihose of Britain 1.4 timermore than the pay of their respective firemen."

THE OWNERS' STDE. The shipowners, in reply, contend that the increases demanded ,are obviously of such a nature that the shipping industry would be unduly penalised if they were granted, and for that reason they would react on the general public. They further point out that until the present strike was precipitated the shipowners were paying increased rates of pay over those ordered .by the Arbitration Court in HUS, which was to be current until 1021, and that the additional increases which they now offer are more than a liberal allowance for the increase in the cost of living. In regard to the comparison between rates paid on the Australian coast and those paid overseas, put forward by the engineers to justify their demands, the owners' rejoinder is that the engineers in 191R supported their case by illustrating these comparisons, but the president of the Court in effect stated that the increases were abnormal, and due, no doubt, to the war risks and the alarming increase in the cost of living in 'treat Britain and the United Slates, and therefore there was no ground for raising the pay in Aus : trillia in the same proportion as in the countries mentioned. FAILURE OF LAST BALLOT. On February 3 the last offer made by (lie shipowners was submitted to a ballot of the engineers in all States, and the result was a majority of 213 against resumption as compared with a majority of ill against resumption in the previous ballot. '

Mr. W. M, Hushes. Federal Prime Minister, commenting r.n the decision, asserted that the engineers had not only defied the law, but had treated with contempt every effort that had been made to induce them to return to work. They had been offered reasonable concessions, and a tribunal to settle their dispute. He regarded the result of the ballot as an ultimatum. This declaration was followed a few days later by the issue of a proclamation by the Federal fioverrtment, under the War Precautions Act, prohibiting all strike contributions, loans of money or sifts of snorts to the marine engineers, and forbidding banks or any member or agent of the. Marine Engineers' Institute to withdraw funds deposited by tha Institute,