THE FEDERATION ON TRIAL

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 181, 30 July 1912, Page 2

THE FEDERATION ON TRIAL

BY TRAMWAY EMPLOYEES. NIGHT SHIFT FAVOURS BALLOT. The night shift of the Tramways Union held a meeting to-day to discuss a proposal that a ballot be taken on the issue that the union withdraw from the Federation of Labour. Some time ago a similar proposal was tabled for consideration by the union, but the matter was allowed to drop, the general impression at thai time being that, in ordinary loyalty, it was not a. fair thing to discuss such an event while the Federation was occupied with troubles in other direction.-. A general meeting of the Tramways t'riinn must of necessity be held in two part-, the evening and night shift men meeting during the day, and the morning shift men meeting in the evening. As a general rule the officials try to keep the result of the morning's deliberations secret, the contention being that to divulge the nature of the decision arrived at, may unfairly influence tlie deliberations of the rest of -the union men in the evening. This lias sometimes been the case. With regard to the pre-.-ent question, however, the mind of the union is fairly well known, or, rather, it is understood that the union is about equally divided on the matter. As in other federated unions. there is a prevailing feeling that recent action- of the executive committee have been far from satisfactory, but when it comes to a direct vole of no-confidence the feeling of loyalty already referred to has a good deal of influence on very many union members. In the circumstances, therefore, the vote of the whole of the Tramways Union members on the proposal to hold a ballot may s-wing either -way, according to the point of view most cogently put forward by speakers at the time. There was not a very large attendance at this morning's meeting, and the proposal to bold a ballot on the advisability of separation from the Federation of Labour was approved by a small majority. No conclusion as to the ultimate decision of the Union can, (however, be definitely formed from this fact.