the strike, which started as a fight for equal pay with white workers, developed savagely as the powerful Vestey combine issued dismissal notices, With wages far below even the basic wage sor white stockmen, the Aborigines were not union members: nevertheless the North Australian Workers' Union, through its secretary Mr. Cerroll, identified itself immediately with the Gispute end the boriginal leaders. It called for the widest bossible support from all unions - not excluding the ACTU leadership itself, and Padcy Carroll announced, "Any man who accepts work to replace striking Aboriginal stockmen will be vreated as an industrial renecade,. Industrial renesades were once called scabs,' i: The victory now achieved is only partial, and there are already signs of Cifierences of interpretation in the agreement. When for example, it was pointed out to the ACTU General Secretary ” that the $14.50 a week, plus keep, which some stockmen would be Getting, would be nothing like the NT basic wage, the reply came that "this only applied to a relatively small number," ae —— s ie has responded by makine it clear that he is i ared to accept a eiti re ici oe es oe Cull ‘baste ate where even a few Aborigines
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