Bogus Unionism Attacked
Maoriland Worker, Volume 5, Issue 197, 11 November 1914, Page 2
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Bogus Unionism Attacked
A Slashing Exposure
Speaking in the House of Representatives on tho Huntly Commissioners' Report, Mr. John Payne, member for Grey Lynn, said: I think it ; should be understood by tiio House, and more especially by those who are not too- well verged in mining, what the men's mining inspectors are—that in ihe first place they are just ordinary miners who purs,uo tho avocation of. mining from day to day, and by- reason of their having made a study-of gas tests, ■and being experienced' miners, they are able to test tor gas. and do-so, say, once a month. They make that test and examine the mine generally: for tin? rest of the time they work for tlii' mining companies as ordinary workmen. We therefor? see where the pull of the mining company conies in. The' unions pay the inspectors for the days they''are off their ( ordinary work and spending their time in making the examinations, but for the rest of the time they are employed by the company. That was the position at Huntly prior to the strike in 1912, and prior to the formation of this ILLEGAL BOGUS UNION. Now the whole of the report' of the Commission turns ' practically upon Clause 6, subclause (b) of the Huntly Distaster, on page 10, undei , "Workmen's insp>?ctibn." It says: : "No evidenco was given by the workmen's inspectors before the Commission, but. from the evidence of other witnesses we learned that
only two inspections were made by tho workmen's inspectors, during the past twelve months—that is, practically, since the new union was formed after tie first strike during 1912." .....•■ Now it has been shown by other speakers that a workmen's inspector under the old Federation union was a very unpopular individual if he went down io inspect and he found there was trouble, m the mine in connection with matters that were likely to cause disaster. With a strong union behind , him he was able to make a conscientious report and so protect the lives of himself and his fellow men.. Now, that NARROW-SOULED, MONEY-GRABBING INDIVIDUAL. Allison and his confreres, men who think little .of human life, and who value more than human life tho cost of saiety-lamps and safety appliances or life preserving precautions, were out to get lid of those who insisted upon prop?r precautions being taken. Any wan who stood up for human life as against the god of gold, which is /at tho root of those little mining owners' ~ souls, was bound to be unpopular as has been shewn by other speakers to-night. The whole feeling against the Red Feds .was because they fought for conditions that would safe-guard their lives, and in this particular case we get tho original Red Fed union, with tho aid of certain scallywags from Auckland, Black and Walsh, put out of existence; a bogus union is formed, the officials of which were appointed by the Company, so that there wo have what is supposed to be a miners' union with an-executive which is REALLY IN TtIK PAY OF THE EMPLOYERS. This clause points out, as is shewn by the evidence of the Commission, that in twelve months there wore only two inspections of the mine, if we look to the Bill before us we nnd that it provides .that mines must be inspected by the workmen's inspectors or.cc a m'oiitli, and ofteuer if the workmen report to their deputy or. the.main inspector that there is any special reason, for a special inspection. Now, 1 want that to be borne in mind because that is-what is provided for in this Bill. Even under this Bill, owing to iho present state of unionism, there is no safeguard for the lives of men, and a similar disaster may occur if the men's inspectors are goiiis to be under the tlnniib of the Taupiri or any other coal mine owners in the same way as are the present bogus union's inspectors. As has been pointed out by other speakers to-night, thoso men who were acting for and insisting upon the men being kept reasonably safe are the men who have boon HUNTED FROM HtJNTLY. and not only so, but wherever they hare gone they hero boon followed &nd
John Payne's Speech in the House
victimised, and generally an attempt lias been made to drive them out of tho country by the employers' orgauisation, working in consort with one of tlio owners of this mine, and chairman of th» company, Mr. Allison, who is a leading idol of the employers' association. It is Jill very well for outsiders "to ti.v and gain their own ends ju that nay; it is all very, well for private .individuals such as Allison.to ■try and beat the workers, but when wo-have a. member of the Government --the Minister cf Labour, the Prime .Minister. Mr. Massey—who must know perfectly well that under Clause- 10 of the IDO3 I.C. and A. Act, as has been read out by the honourable member for Otaki to-night, if a registered union goes on strike as the Huntly union did. they must be prosecuted, and when convicted their award may be suspended and the registration of the union may be suspended. BUT NO OTHER UNION CAN BE FORMED IN THAT INDUSTRY IX THAT. DISTRICT. There is not a bogus union ill N.Z. to-night, in any part of N.Z., that is legally constituted, and as Minister of Labour the right hem. the Prime Minister, instead of holding up law and order that he has - boasted so much about, has distinctly connived at the flaunting of law and order; and to-day there exists in Huntly a bogus'union,; with bogus officials paid by the employers, which is : . • •
UTTERLY ILLEGAL; ■ and the right hou. the Prime Minister; as Minister, of Labour, must , be fully aware of (that fact. H just comes down to' a matter" of £ s. d., with a money-grubbing, dividend-hunting company," who pay 2s. 3d. per ton on the average for the winning of coal, to the miner, who place coal in Auckland at a price of -18s! per ton, arid not only do they get their 18s.' jer ton, which includes their wholesale profit, at this price for coal landed at the Auckland station, but in add-on, tiie Tanpiri "Company and other coalmine owners have, a ring in Auckland, and they sell 'coal to the consumer at -"355. and' up to 395.' per ton. Yet the extra cost of protecting these men's lives, the extra ' amount that would have 'saved the lives of the-e murdered menat Huntly, would have boon not more than Is. per ton ofi an average. The extra 'cost of providing all the means for safeguarding the lives of these men would not have amounted to more than Is. per ton. Yet we see that the coal miners' ring in Auckland reap an much as 13s. per ton extra profit, less of course, their cost of distributing to the consumers in the city of Auckland,; for this Taupiri ( coal.' AYe find on the' hillside at Huntly, 43 newly-turned , graves. We find, there 43 bread-winners taken- out of their home's. A number of wives arc left behind, and I believe, close on 100 children. I think it is extremely fortunate that there is some other excitement, in the air in New Zealand just now, or surely the people of Auckland would TAR AND FEATHER the men who :iro responsible for the ■nths of these poor murdered men at Huntly. These men hnvo brou murdered at Huntly for the sake of the ungodly gains, of a dividend-hunting company. The corpses of these men cry aloud for vengeance on the people who have connived at these murders. Every person who has done anything illegal, every person who has done anything in any way to help to murder ihose men is culpable, is blnmeable,. and should bo damned from north to. south of this country. The people who nre responsible for the murder of these men are not only the coal-mine owners.. but they include every individual, INCLUDING THE MINISTER OF LABOUR. who connived at the formation of an illegal and bogus union. Mr. Speaker: The hon. member will withdraw that Statement. Mr. Payne: I will not withdraw it. (Mr. Payne's suspension in connection with this incident is reported elsewhere,)
