IS A STRIKE NECESSARY?

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 59, 8 March 1912, Page 9

IS A STRIKE NECESSARY?

By WALTER THOMAS MILLS, (National Organiser of the Trades Councils.)

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.inn- of controversy are shiftThe question, or . i he*. ' °ltt it was a dispute over A . and conditions of employment. * mg "-* «. whether the body whioh had ■ strike should again be I™,. ,hj in a new controversy. Then ' of the recognition of the it became one B Federation of L*Boar union dVv )d es the ' nETSrce of the original body, and m C^- Uw over ' antl is the result i• nf the bad bl.iod of the generaJ Sourer., nor of the alleged bad manf£ wbO sought an interview with the invert The" is something much 2!fundamental than all that. % islhis: The settled policy of tht «mJovers is to ker P the workcrs d '- SfffUr that they ma* the more IX ™<"i uer ' anfl il sccms the , fa f of that they constantly keep LLselves divided, with the result that '•the. are conquered. It may seem to be. Sd tactics -to divide and conquer -ft 3 !fl«Cußfl«e folly "to d.v>de and coming of the Arbitration Court the Trades Councils were important factors in trades dispute. The • Conrt refused to recognise these central 'baiier the Court recognises only the ."angle'small trades union. The united sower of the Trades Councils was broken ■ £1» fragmenWi by their action. That ' Jwfcr Labour. Rut the delihe- ' raticn, the caution, the sense of i,lti- ' Lfa responsibility to the public judg.neat which must always so strongly influence labour organisations composed of ill trades, acting through delegated fcdie,, was lost to labour with great 'Sjnry to labour, and now. at last, with gj result of utterly unsettling the industrial situation. .Industrial activity in all lines of promotion demands, as an essential condition to prosperity, the ability of the responsible management always to dep&Lon carrying through his enterprises without unlooked-for fluctuations in either the prices he pays for materials or for labour. Make either of these uncertain, and you at once cut the foundation from under ull industrial enterprise, so well as all regularity and certainty' of employment on any terms. It & at this point where private monopoly ftmtror of the producers' raw materials leaves him .ill the time at the mere}' of private monopoly managements; which may at any time convert a manager's' profits into losses instead, by arbitrarily charging prices for his materials. But the difficulty is just as ! great in dealing with the wage scale as with the price list. All business men of judgment are coming to see that the irresponsible monopoly control of price lists is putting them all more and more at the mercy of great

pftvate interests over which they can i htve-no vcontfpj. Hut the irresponsible to hawed, to prejudice, often to Mfcright malice, which may mislead a rang of workers to their own serious diaadrantage, and do ultimate destruction of rational trades conditions; would &I 1 utterly without influence on 'the minds of a group of delegates representing all the industries, and responsible for the conditions of employmeirt, not only of the men on a particular job, but on all the other jobs as well. It is perfectly true that such a central Iwdy, representative of all of Labour, «hen it would act—as it must in the ewe of great industrial injustice—would (be. resistless. But its power coujd not 'be used except in controversies where jnstjee would be so manifestly with the <worke» that the whole public would be «y the back of their demands. In «uch «-c«ee the employer can easily escape all iarm from the union by doing justly % Hs men. If they will not do this, then some power ought to exist to com•pel pt>edier.ee to the public will, when *bat public will is thus made deliberate, anformed, end unitedly committed to a jjnst purpose. In the face of these facts, what are tte.Baießa doing in this dispute? The federation officials deliberately planned » national programme to secure control «f the three or four greatest Industrie* " f ***** these to bring New Zealand to JaJ Knees, and use paralysis as the great *W certain- cure of Ml the ills of the Safcstrial body politic Its war with it* «"!>loyers has never been quite so bitteT Wwith the other Unions. Its effort to withdrawal of Unions from *■» Arbitration Court has naf been more than its effort to secure their I ? M f MI fJ also from the local trades «*«jnls has been a camWfP» of disunion. The "unity" camMgn, which seeks to unite all the work*H for rational and progressive work, most offensive to these men. ■"Ktaity .being . their watchword, they Wd not weß be expected to take any .:** employers bave been helping • *? w» very programme which haa made ™s situation possible. In the ArbHni«on Conrt, whenever (Hsputes are called, rh-J_f em, P ,0 >" ers ' si dp is the whole of the emplovers of New ZeaOn the workers' side is a single » ZL Union - Tlle inexperience of the their lack of knowledge of pro- *«««. has lost them many a ease. The Motion has won »n T 'cases for the S T"' But !t to. lose to «*n the employees and the employers "paeans 3 f peaceful settlement of all

Now, at last, the employers refuse to representatives except they were **»»ered, while at the same, time the employers were seeing the ™»r representatives 0 f tho ■'Sterer , 'Th Wh ° alß ° W<?r ° lm " Jr"? mav ilt,!ist tha * NceL „ hey are swkin * to *"* «e processe, of settling trade disomy" tJ 1 ' S lnll not ta Uken Beri - AncklZ. t «™P«ous trades unions in •^Sr d . , wa^. h,therto - when they have theseJlT ard \,.'' oVp nng any trades, 2J »ame public bodies have always ftTj or fA have frequently secured S ;from the - operation of tbese *£*> i among these puhlic emplovees. of all -Sv 1 ™ 1 * trokr " f «M w the worst l ,publi< ' fim P lo yws are to be from other general labourer* - l W...X? egeraUi of their own. tidal fTT*L la *° ,IT « s are to be difflk+SiT y T he conquered. To ™ey must not consent. There never -"•» nan serious demand for a unity 1 ttatl —***• <3ouwsil or some othsr body N^" 6 *"*-*) -f"s work that a Trades Coun-

cil ought to do, must be maintained in Auckland. All the unions of evwry description must be in it. The general labourers must be protected in the unity of their body by the same men 'who are fighting for the unity of all labour. And those who so justly reaent this dividing of the Labourers must cease their own dissension and make certain unity in the" ranks of the labourers hy helping to establish unity among all the unions. The employers cannot afford to divide the workers in order to conquer. It w a programme which reacts destructively on every social and industrial interest. The workers cannot afford to divide and be conquered. It's the path which leads to the certain destruction of all their organisations and to the defeat of all their purposes.