[?]ickel Workers

[?]Umea Surprise

[?]ickel Workers On Strike

, From Our Own Correspondent tOVIDING startling news for those who believed that an organised strike in New Kionia was impossible, 1,000 :el-smelter workers at Noumea 400 mining workers at Thio ned tools on April 16. iropsans, Islanders, Indo lese and Javanese were all rep nted among the strikers, who red that the employing com y had persistently shelved con ration of claims for wage, in ses. ie union leaders, according to mea reports, had been au ised by the men to maintain a : strike if necessary, but the -up ended on the day it ted, and negotiations for a com ; new working contract will t in May. ’eminent members of the power- Nickel Company directorate will e to Noumea from Paris for the >tiations. The workers agreed his delay, but declared their in ion of holding firmly to their ns. lere is a general belief that the :e must have had repercussions s aris. It has long been alleged the company took advantage ;he former lack of unity and nisation among the workers, few people thought that the al groups involved were ever y to arrive at the point of col ve action. ost people who have visited the Iters and seen the conditions in :h work is done agree that a itic overhaul is long overdue. It ife to say that any attempt to ose similar conditions in, say, tralia or New Zealand, would luce an emphatic reaction.