Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1949. TRADE UNIONISM

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 29, 14 November 1949, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1949. TRADE UNIONISM

A recent cable message from London announced that the draft constitution for the; new International Trade Union Organisation had been sent to 124 trade union organisations in 55 countries and 19 colonies. With the publication of the document., the preliminary work was almost completed for the (conference in London later this month’ It will be recalled that the World Federation of Trade Unions broke up last January, and at the time Communist newspapers asserted that the break had been due to a campaign carried out by the United States. They coupled with this accusation the statement that America was ready to go ahead with a U.S.-dominated .Trade Union International.' Something, seems to have gone wrong somewhere, because the so-called non-Commun-ist international has not yet come into being. All that has been done is to undertake the preliminary work, so quite obviously the United States was not ready to go ahead last January. The draft constitution for the new body has, in a preamble, the five “rights of the individual.” These are social justice, choice of employment, security of employment and of person, organisation in trade unions which, are free bargaining instruments, and derive their authority from their members, and constitutional means of changing the Government. It can hardly be said from this that the new body is _ antiCommunist, or even politicallyminded oi* politically motivated. From what can be gathered at the moment, it will be a body dealing with trade tr-ion matters and refusing to.meddle in politics unless politics meddle with it, and that is ‘where the World Feedration fell down. The new organisation is representative of the major regions of the- world, and it will be the task in London to see that the constitution_ is free from suspicion of American or any other domination. It is true that the largest membership will come from Britain and America, but, if the organisation is to succeed where the federation failed, then there .will have to be some kind of balance between the larger and smaller nations. This accomplished, .the organisation can set out to do its job —helping to encourage backward countiies. and freeing unionism front thegrip of the. Communists.