THE MINERS’ STRIKE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2665, 22 November 1909, Page 7

THE MINERS’ STRIKE.

THE CONTROLLING BODY.

Tliore arc about 9000 men ill the tedoration employed in the various collieries in the Newcastle and Maitland holds. Each' colliery has its own lodge or branch union, and elects its own officers to carry out local working details. Each of these lodges also elects a de.e<r,ate to ropresont it on what is known as the Delegate Board, which .is the governing body of the federation. The president, secretary, and treasurer .or the federation are elected by a ballot of the whole of the district once every 'twelve months, and in- their bands rest the obligation to attending to all business requiring immediate decision. They, .however, are not supreme, as they have to report their actions to the Delegate Board, which usually gives approval of what has been done. Neither is the Delegate Board supreme, as its decisions again have to go before the individual lodges, whore they are discussed and criticised, and either rejected or confirmed. Each ledge lias a voting power iiv accordance with its numerical strength, every twenty-five members representing one vote. .. On any important question a lodge may demand a. ballot of the whole of the federation, at which every man is called on individually to vote; this right, however, is rarely exorcised, except on very important questions. \ In the present instance the executive officers prepared their plans for the strike - without taking the Delegato Board fully into their confidence. They discussed the plans proposed for twelve hours, and at the conclusion carried the motion calling on the district to strike. It was then necessary to- place the decision before the various lodges.

This is tlie working of the Northern Colliery Employees’ Federation itself, lmt behind that body there is another huge organisation, known as the Amalgamated Coal and Shale Workers’ Association. This body represents the combination of the Northern, Southern and Western colliery employees, and has only lately been brought into being. Its governing officers are elected in much the same way as that adopted in the election of the leaders of the Northern Federation.

In the present struggle, Mr. Bowling, as the mouthpiece of the federation, states that behind the miners again are the combined waterside workers of the State, who before now haVe proved that they are an effective fighting force. KICKING OVER THE TRACES. Mr. Albert Burns, secretary of the Hebhurn Miners’ Lodge, and treasurer of tlie Amalgamated Coal and Shale Workers’ Association, at a meeting at East Greta, said that he knew that at East Greta, they were regarded as a model colliery, but their brother unionists were burdened with conditions that were really more fitted for the days when the feudal lords held men as slaves, than for the democratic country in which they were supposed to be living. The position had been intensified by the brutal conditions imposed upon members of the federation by the various managers and proprietors throughout the district, so much so that the. Delegato Board considered that no other position- than- kicking over the traces could maintain tlieir manhood. They had resolved' to take the only alternative left them, and face the inevitable bv saying that they would lay down tools until tlieir grievances were redressed. Delegate after delegate got up at that meeting, and enumerated grievances that existed at various colWhen the executives endeavored to get a solution of tlieir difficulties, they were insulted, day after day, and week after week, and were- ashamed of their position. All they could do was not worth a snap of their fingers.