STRIKE PREDICTED.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 May 1922, Page 5

STRIKE PREDICTED.

MANY UNIONS INVOLVED. CONDITIONS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. Sydney, May 12. The Herald says that the Trades Hall is making preparations for a general strike. The first union likely to be involved is that of the railwaymen employed in construction works, numbering six thousand, as a protest against the medical test the commissioners are seeking to enforce.

The coal miners, rural workers and shearers are likely to ’be drawn in. It is considered certain that- the shearers will not accept the recent award.

Following the conference, an official statement has been issued. it declares that, in view of the anticipated rise in prices during the winter, it semes evident that the authorities are deliberately trying to provoke an industrial upheaval. Starvation is by instinct revolutionary, and, if the Government wants a revolution, it is certainly going the right way to get it. The working class will leave no stone unturned to organise their forces for the coming struggle.

The railway workers held a stormy meeting which ended in disorder. Motions to strike and submit to examination were both rejected. A deputation to Sir George Fuller of union representatives declared the Commissioner’s action would precipitate trouble he did not dream of.

Sir George Fuller replied that the commissioners were acting in the interests of the men, and if the latter precipitated trouble it would be on their own responsibility. In the event of cases of hardship arising from the examination the commissioners would review each case. The men had nothing to fear, as no wholesome dismissals were- contemplated.

The union executive instructed members to continue to work and to submit themselves to medical examination.

An official statement issued by the Miners’ Federation states the log is the legal reply to the owners’ threatened reductions. Tn any case, if half the miners in the industry are put in gaol, the other half will never accept the evil conditions demanded by the employers.