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THE MINING POSITION
FEDERAL
PARLIAMENT
DIS-
CUSSES
DANGER OF WAGE REDUCTION.
SIR J. COOK DEFENDS THE COM-
PANIES. ..
MELBOURNE, Friday.—The position
of the mining industry owing to
the closing down of various mines
was discussed in the House of Representatives
to.day, on the motion for
the adjournment, moved by Mr. Blakeley
(NJS.W.)
Mr., Blakeley. referred to the attempts
made in connection with the
Mt. Morgan (Qld.), Moonta and Wallaroo
(S.A.), and Mt. Lyell (Tas.)
mines, to get the miners to accept a
reduction In wages and . working
hours, and the rejection of proposals
by the executive of the A.W.U. The
latter organisation, he said, was pre--
pared to fight to the last ditch against
a principle which, if adopted, would,
in its opinion, be the forerunner of
a general redaction in wages throughout
Australia.' - The policy enunciated,
if an industry did not pay that the
employes in that industry- should
make the sacrifices, in" ordor that it
could be made to pay, was a vicious
one. The A.W.U. took np the attitude
that If an -industry was to he
maintained it should not be at the
expense of the workers. When the
price of metals was high and -the
workers wanted concessions, they
were told to go to the Arbitration
Court. Now to-day, when the workers
desired to-abide by the award of
that Court, the reply of mine owners
was- that they would hot go to the
Court; -
, Referring particularly to the posi-
Oon at Mt. LyelV he said resolutions
had been carried offering to assist
the company in approaching the Arbitration
Court, and' to facilitate a
hearing, bat in the meantime the men
were jiot prapared to accept, an^ eon.
ditioiis likely to act prejudicially to
them in the -Court. Althqugh there
might be a few workers willing to
accept lower' -wages and work longer
hours, the attitude of the executive
ot the A-W.U- was that it-most take
a stand in the interests of the workers
as a whole. He felt that was the
rigfet attitude , to take tip in order to
resist any general reduction ofwages
and lengthening of wo'i^Inir hour s in
Australia. They had applied for a
compulsory conference in regard to,
Mt. Lyell, and that -was. to take place
to-morrow. They would give every
assistance to i get a v hearing by the
Court, and would abide by its" decision.
. :
Mr. Foster (S-A.) pointed out fliat
thB.Judge.sf the Queensland .Arbitra.-
tion Court had recommended the-men
to iccept tbe
Mt
;-jtp6nta'
and WMlaroo, dui-li^ the ^srar -period
there was an agreement under whldi
the -.menifijccepted- wages based .oti the
puctiiktibjiiW the -tharket price of
m^talsJvWhen .tfaefciprice pf f inetals
dropped to^zero and it no longer became
a paying proposition, Urn mines
bad to tdose. When proposals -were
made for yestarUng -work the men.
were. promised that as soon as prices
recovered they woifld get Inraeased .
ws^es. The, men were prepared to
accept the Conditions, but iTOBe
'
vented by the. A.WiU, with the result
that they jrould have Mle mines,
until the mlsleaders of the workers
came to tbdr senses. • : ::..i v>'-',..
^. Charlton <N.S.W.) argaed that
having establlshea arbltraHpn ; they
should sticic to that machinery. If
thei ®T&Splo 1 «f-" reducing; -wagesVaDd j;
working longer 'Hoars ^ . ^ ^ • ^ I ' S
one indastry,' It wonld bave jto 7be*
adopted In others.'
Mr. AtkInson (Tas.): ,Of .cpurpe, if
conditions require it.
Sir 3, Cook: Judge H'Cawley bas
recommended lt. "'*: • T: :<• -,-;
JOuu-lton thou^it v that elther
die Sthte' or Federal Governmaits
should, come to tbe aid of tbe industry
in this critical period, either by
subsidy or otherwise. .In any event,
the machinery of ifre Arbitratton C^urt
should: say if there was to be any" '
variation of existing awards' as to
wages and- other conditions. -
Sir J- Cook, replying, twitted the
Laborlte s who had ( introduced the
matter^ with -not having offered :a :
slnj^e* solution.-, for overcoming tite
troubles; In tlie .^ciafee MbiSBtf
mine the Court bad found, aqtwiflistanding
the proposed reduction of 20"
per cent, in wages, thsrt the company
would still .make Xoss on operations.
The company, however, had express,
ed its willingness 'to this loss, and to
on reserves -until the metal
market had recovered. The Judge
had urged the mine workers to accept
the company's terms, but they
had been refused. It was not much
use goinjr to the Arbitration Court,
s the Court's only concern, according
to the dictum laid down by Mr. Justice
Higgins, was to decide .'what constituted
fair wages and conditions, enabling
the worker to live in a fair
standard L of comfort. There was no
f
,. ,, .
aw ia world C0U,<J ,ncrease
^ ^
the price of metals. He believed a
solution - of the present trouble was
the'acceptance of a return to the,old
conditions, under which tlie men. accepted
a sliding scaie, according to
the price of metals. In tho present
case the men wanted to work on'the
conditions offered, but t!he unions" executiveB
would not let them. In his y
udgment there bad been no abnor- lt
^ f profitjl ^dp. dllring Ihb 1 war, as
. ^ ^ '_, ° • _ ,, J w
P"CP. wa^ stricUy oonMUed by
the Imperial Government, which purchased
the output anil.arbitrarily fix-
s
ed the price. He could see no attack
on unionB -in accepting tbe -offer
made to nieet the present conditions.
a 1B
The men, under the conditions offered,
had to con^de something, and ought F
to participate ' correspondingly when
the metal market recovered." Any such
arrangement ought to cut both ways.
time would. come when the
unions would> realise that a sliding'
scale was the proper thing to apply
to many of these industrial enterprises.
The labor rate should be
fixed on a reasonable basis. Then
they could have a sliding scale moved
up or down as the market conditions
determined. He bad seen this operating
voluntarily for many year& and
there was no reason whjr it should
not be applied now.' -It was better
in the long run that tbe men should
be working than toye them unemloyed.
_
After -further discussion the matter
was talked out.
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