UNWMPLOYMENT AND UNIONISTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7828, 22 June 1909, Page 4

UNWMPLOYMENT AND UNIONISTS.

Speaking to one of our reporters on the question of unemployment, • a prominent Unionist said that the workers themselves were greatly to blame in respect to the large number of iheii that are out of employment at the present tirite, He added: 'Although' I httfe lifeoii & iheinber of aUnion for year's, I am getting abso| lutely disgusted with the perpetual demands and .strife. that came" from the ranks' of .the .Union workers,, more' particularly fro. ma class of worker I am loth to call .'wasters;' .. They., are never-satisfied, and if a .man- is. satisfied the paid Union organisers and touts and inspectors will not allow harmonious relations .between master and man to exist. More than half of the .men out of work in Christchurch were Unionists, and. what was the cause of their unemployment ? The demands'and restrictions placed, vipon employers were overdone, and where, say, six men were given constant employment '& few years ago, half that number are now ..engaged. .There is another phase of the question,", he continued, "and that is, the increased cost of living. With the increase'.;hi wages there has been a corresponding increase in the cost of living,, so that the workers are no better off than they wore a few. years ago.". The reporter's attention was then drawn to a local instance regarding Unionism. It appears that a voting man-in the Longbeach district, w,ho is handy at carpentering work, hn.d found constant employment the wholo year round among.the farmers at a wage of about 7s to 8s per day. Recently me of the Union men heard of i!:o ca, cc, and the young man, on being reported to the Council, was warned that he must not accept a lower wage than from 10s to 11s per, day, otherwise he would be liable to a fine.\ He has now been obliged to give up his self-taught trade 1, .alid accept a much lower wage on a farm.