B.001B/N.001

Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate

Wednesday, January 21, 1942

The Discipline of the Miners' Federation

What has happened to the disciplinary powers of the Miners' Federation when one or two disgruntled members can run counter to the will of the majority and hold up production in such a vital national industry? The Minister for Home Security (Mr Lazzarini) struck a shrewd blow when he told the striking Old Bulli miners that a federation member who refused to work when his leaders so directed, was just as disloyal to his organisation as the man who continued to work after a strike had been ordered. The miners are palpably losing public sympathy, and, if the leaders of the federation are wise, they will discipline the small misguided minority which is flouting the decisions of tribunals and lodges, and of the federation itself. Unless this action is taken, irreparable harm will be done to the federation.

In normal times the hasty decision of miners at the pit-top to strike rather than work even for a day under some challenge to accepted procedure or standards may evoke sympathy especially from those who have some knowledge of the industry, and of the elements that make its workers more difficult to maintain than any other. Recent stoppages merit no sympathy. Miners here and in the South have struck because old men have exercised their legal right to continue working until February 21 before retiring on pension. The Minister for Mines (Mr Baddeley) had made it clear that any of the men eligible for pensions could, if they wished, retire at the end of last year, but they could legally continue working until February 21. There may be grounds for asking the pensioners to retire gracefully a few weeks before their time; there can be no excuse for holding up production over so trivial a domestic dispute.

Stoppages at two Cessnock mines over the employment of former Rothbury employees were attempts to deny men the right to accept what had been promised them by the federation in return for their cooperation in a former strike. Again, it was a minority which struck a blow at the honour of the federation. A disturbing feature of the trouble at Aberdare Central was that the meeting which debated a resumption of work was attended by about a quarter of the lodge members. Although the meeting decided for work entailing the acceptance of the former Rothbury man, the minority had the victory for the man resigned next day. So was past service to the federation rewarded.

At Pelaw Main colliery a dispute developed into a refusal to accept a decision by the Chairman of the Maitland Reference Board (Mr Connell). Yet only a short time ago the federation demanded successfully that the board should have absolute jurisdiction in local disputes! The appointment of reference boards for the coalmining industry was a notable industrial achievement. Yet, as the chequered career of the Northern Boards has shown, the benefits of the system have not been appreciated. In the appointment of chairmen, and in the subsequent enlargement of their powers, the Government was moved by a desire to inspire the miners' confidence in the system. To see even some of those miners jeopardising the continuance of the system comes as something of a shock.

Happily, the great majority of the miners are desirous of producing to the limit, and resent these disputes. It is unfortunate that too many of them are content to remain above the battle, as the Aberdare Central vote indicated. It is time they realised their power and asserted themselves. Let fair-minded miners think back on the past year and count the gains made by the federation. Let them study the statistics of reference board decisions. Let them recall particularly the abolition of the holiday penalty clause and the extension of the powers of local reference boards. They should consider the future carefully, these average miners-men noted for their loyalty and courage. Do they think that, with the enemy almost at the back door of Australia, any Government, Labour or non-Labour [sic], could countenance continued interference with production in a vital industry? Public opinion would not allow it to do so. The writing is on the wall for the mining industry. Control by Government regulation looms large unless these troubles cease. The present situation calls for the summoning of delegate board meetings. The leaders of the federation here and elsewhere should act at once. Time is short.