NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14244, 15 December 1909, Page 11

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

BY ARTISAN. The Trades Council has gone into recess, and the next meeting will be held earl;in January, 1910. Mr. Elston, the organising secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, paid his first visit to Auckland last week. Lieutenant Adams, a member of the Shackleton Antarctic expedition, has been, appointed to superintend one of the six principal Labour exchanges in Great Britain. The waterside workers have a petition in circulation for signatures asking fo" the appointment of a Commission to inquire into the alleged pilfering of cargo that is stated to occur in this port. The union has collected evidence, and states its readiness to prove that the great bulk of the pilfering is done before the cargo reaches Auckland. The union urges that a memorandum on the subject, attached to the last award of the Arbitration Court, be withdrawn, as being an unwarranted attack on a deserving body of workers.

The amending clauses in the Shops and Offices Bill, which have the effect of extending the hours of labour of employees in hotels and restaurants, and thus overriding the provisions of the award of the Arbitration Court now in force, is being opposed "by the unions generally, and especially by the union affected. Mr. T. Long, the secretary of the union, went to Wellington, and gave evidence against the clauses On behalf of the union. The whole trend of the Labour movement at the present day is towards the reduction of the hours of ,labour in all classes of industry, and any proposal that entails an increase in the hours of labour naturally invites strenuous opposition from the workers.

The Defence Bill is the subject of considerable discussion among workers, and, generally speaking, the Bill is favourably received, though it is considered that provision should be made in the Bill to prevent the forces raised under it being called out in times of industrial warfare. Mr. Jno. Fawcus, the well-known local Labourite, is a keen supporter of the universal training movement, and he is now on a visit to the South, where he purposes explaining the situation to the unions, as considerable opposition has been shown to the Bill by several of the more prominent union officials. In Auckland the movement has received the general support of the unions, and it is to be hoped that the visit of Mr. Fawcus to the South will have the effect of removing the misconceptions prevalent in the unions there relating to the movement.

According to the award governing the conditions of the butchery trade, all employees must cease work at five p.m. on week days and nine p.m. on Saturdays, with the usual half-holiday hours on Wednesday. A number of shops in the city and suburbs are in charge of members of the union, and are compelled to close at the stated hours, whereas a shop that is run by the owner can be kept open as long as the owner chooses. This is at the present time a sore point with the union, and with a number of the larger establishments who conform to the hours specified by the award. Attempts at securing a uniform closing hour for all shops have failed. The Butchers' Union is now seeking to obtain the sympathy and assistance of all unions in the matter. It is proposed to issue a list of all who conform to the award hours, and to ask all unionists to patronise no others.

In 1901 the Amalgamated Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers struck against the American Steel Trust. There were then 60,000 union men, as against 40,000 non-union. In that strike, J. P.. Morgan, the head of the trust, said to Theodore Shaffer, head of the union: " I'll smash your union for. this. It will tH~e me just four years. At the end of that time you'll not have a union man at work jit the mills of my combine." He has redeemed his promise. He only missed it in point of time. It took him eight years instead of four. But he made a good job of it, and to-day ' there is not a union man making steel in any' trust, mill in the United States. Seven years aeo there were 60,000 union men against 40.000 non-union men; to-day there are 8000 union men against. 118,000 non-union. The union is all but wiped out, and the remnant is now making its last stand. What the outcome will be hardly admits of doubt. The trust simply operates its non-union plants, and allows its union plants to stand idle until union men are starved into submission.

A curious anomaly exists in our Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, inasmuch as there is no provision for the registration of a union that would embrace the whole of the Dominion as an industrial district. This point came out with the recent application of the New Zealand Shearers' Union. Each district must be treated separately, not necessarily by an independent union, but, if,desired, by a branch of the parent union. So far so good; but the trouble is that the parent union must bear the name of one of the industrial districts, or of some place within the said district. Mr. Tregear has suggested two alternatives to the union: (1) The conversion of all existing unions, except one, into branches of that one. (The adoption of this course will necessitate the cancellation of other existing unions, in the pastoral industry, such as drovers and stockmen, musterers, etc.) (2) The formation' of an association of existing unions, each one to retain its status as a registered body. The matter has been referred to the branches of the New Zealand Shearers' Union for consideration.