TRADE & LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 213, 5 September 1912, Page 8

TRADE & LABOUR NOTES.

(By "INDUSTRIAL TRAMP-"): UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. This (Thursday) evening. September 5.— Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Fferriere. Nurserymen, Stonemasons, CarTiers. Friday. September 6.—Letterpress Machinists, Building Trades Picnic Committee, General JUabonrers. Monday. September 9.—Painters, Gum Workers. Tuesday, September 10.—Engineers, Central Carpenters, Tramways Special. Wednesday September 11. —Bootmakers. Thursday, September 12. Dairy Employees. Word ISas* been received that the Court of Arbitration will open in Auckland - on Monday, October 7, and there is a very extensive list ready for consideration. I think I am safe in saying that at no time since the coming into vogue of councils of conciliation, under the direct control of the Commissioners, has there been such an extensive, list of unsettled disputes as now awaits the advent of the Court. When the Act was amended to provide for compulsory conciliation councils, in place, of taking the diSfrtTe direct to the Court there set in a wave of conciliation, which was the means of sending the big majority of disputes on to the higher Court, in a. settled condition, and for some years that position held good; but in obedience to instructions from their central organisation, the employers have made the same efforts towards a complete settlement 'that were made formerly. It is held that there is a better chance oi preventing the encroachments of union ism, by leaving matters in the hands of three members of the Court than by risking vital principle? at the sweet will of inexperienced assessors. Again, it ba-s been laid down by the X.Z- Employers' Federation Executive that even in trades where preference has already Seen in operation it must be opposed when it <*(mes up for Tenew.il, and the >nus to be thrown on the Court of again granting it. A case in. point is the carpenters' dispute, which wa-e referred to ;he Court on Tuesday last. The Auckland Builders' Association has often coasted that it has never vet agreed to although their opposition has ilways been overruled by the Court, and t never will. This dispute settled everything except wages and preference, and iad the union agreed not to ask for a rise in pay the dispute would have still rone on to the Court "as unsettled on he preference clause alone. If the value if the Conciliation Council is still to continue there is a great need for somo imendment of the Act that will endow it with more power to settle disputes. The half-yearly meeting of the Auckland Boot Operatives' Union was held at the Trades Hall on August 28. them being a record attendance of members. Kreat interest was manifested in the. election of officers, every office being keenly contested. The results were: — President, Mt. C. P. Barnes; vicr-presi-lent, Mr. J. Wilson: secretary, Mr- A. Watts; treasurer. Mr. R, Sinclair; committee, Messrs. J. Taylor, W. Gilbert. ('. Rcsteaux, T. Harvey, and G. Loi-k. I'he balance-sheet shows the union to be in a flourishing condition. A letter was read from the Trades Hall trustees, asking for a further loan of £50 in aid of the equipment of thn building, and this was acceded to, making a total of £100 that the Bootmakers' L'nion has invested in the new hall. The asset* of the union amount to £664 IS/, while the liabilities amount to but £.32 5/. Amongst the expenditure occurs the amount of £50 passed recently as a donation towards the Strike Fund of the New Zealand Federation of Labour. The bootmakers, although under the jurisdiction of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, are not narrow-minded, and by this action they recognise a fight lor unionism, even though it take* place ''outside the fold."' The ne.w bootmakers' award, which is a. sitbetantiaj improvement on the old award, came into force on the Ist of August, and gives general satisfaction. Great credit is due to the secretary of the Federation executive. Mr. <;. R. Whiting, of Chtistchiirch. for bringing about such an amicable, settlement of what at one time threatened to be a bitter dispute. A general ballot of tlie members of the Auckland Tramw#vs L'nion is being taken to-morrow (Friday) at the respective depots. The polling places arranged for are: Ponsonby depot, Epeom depot, depot Upp. Symonds Street, Power House Hobson Street, and the office of the union, Trades Hall. The ballot will not close until next week, lint it is expected that the bulk of the voting will be taken to-morrow, leaving the stragglers to vote at the Trades Hall during ne-xt week. Rolls have been prepared of all financial members, who are the only ones eligible to vote, and'at the end of next week the results, accompanied by the ballot papers, will be forwarded to the chief returning officer at Wellington. The candidates and positions are as follows: President, Messrs M. .T. Savage (Auckland) and P. C. Webb (present occupant) vice-pre.sident: Messrs J. Dowgray (present treasurer), M. Fagan (Inangahua Miners), W. E. Parry (present occupant), and P. Richardson (Auckland' Tramways); organiser: Messrs T. H. Marshall (Waikato Miners) and R. Semple (present organiser). Mr J. Glover has been re-elected secretary unopposed. A special general meeting of the Auckland Tramways Union was called for last Thursday morning and evening for the purpose of making arrangements for taking the ballot of officers of the Federation of Labour, and also to go fully into the question of the appointment of a permanent secretary who would devote the whole of his time to the birsiness of the Union. The latter matter had already been considered by the Committee of Management, and it was to receive their report that the meeting was called. The recommendation of the committee was to the effect: That the Union appoint «a permanent secretary at a wage of £4 per week, exclusive of the upkeep of the Union office. This offer had been made to the present secretary, wn'o-is elected from year to year (Mr A. Rosser), but as one of the conditions was that for the future the secretary would not be allowed to take on any outside work, and another that he would have to go all over the tramway system to collect the contributions of the labourers on the track, instead of (as in the past) having this work done by separate collectors, Mr Roaser declined to take on the office. At the meetings on Thursday there was very little interest shown in the business of the order paper. The morning meeting lapsed for want of a quorum, only three members being present; in the evening twenty members showed up, and it was decided to advertise for applications for the position on the terms mentioned. [n the meantime, the members who did not attend have forwarded a requisition for a. special meeting to be held next Tuesday morning and evening to reconsider the whole position, on the grounds thai; such, an important aftera-tioajn.t^g;p^^:pii^.JJnkW-shi»uld

not have been determined at a email meeting of only one shift of the Union, On this ground the president has acceded to the request of the petitioners, and it is probable that the whole matter will be reopened. In the meantime, the applications in reply to the advertisements will be held over, unopened. To-morrow evening the Auckland Letterpress Machinists' Union will bold a special meeting to appoint witnesses to give evidence at Wellington, on the 19th, in support of the application of the Federation of Machinists for a Dominion award. In Canterbury the whole of the printing trades have amalgamated into one big union, and eventually this example will be followed in other centres. The Canterbury Rattan and Wicker Workers' Union has written to the Xew Zealand Furniture Trade Federation and the Dunedin Furniture Trade Union, urging upon them the advisability of the whole of the rattan and wicker workers in the Dominion being amalgamated with the United Furniture Trade Section. The replies received to date are sympathetic, and that steps will be taken to comply with the request. W. E. Rpiinie was charged at the Magistrate's Court, Petone, on the information of the Inspector of Awards, with having employed a painter who was not a member of the Wellington Painters' Union. It was shown that the man in question was a' financial member of the Blenheim Painters' Union. Dr McArthur. S.M., inflicted the. nominal penalty of 5/. "The workers of New Zealand have not been making unreasonable demands; have not been organising to win their own demands, by throwing confusion and disorder into the industrial community. It is the real workers who have pled for peaceful and constitutional methods, for a rational support of rational demands. The assertion that New Zealand labour is beaten because an impossible undertaking in a single city and in a. single mining ramp has resulted disastrously, and that, therefore, labour is down and is helpless in Xew Zealand, is the worst offence of which any employer can be guilty in the presence of a self-respecting working man." —Professor W. T. Mills. Industrial co-operation is favoured by the Wellington Provincial Industrial Association, and it has been decided, says the. "Post," to instruct the secretary to write to the various industrial associations in New Zealand, and arrange for a conference to be held in Wellington at the same time as the employers meet. In urging the need for united action, Mr D. Robertson said that they could not expect much this session, but "we can give the Government a lead a* to what we desire." He continued: "During the last ten years our industries have been treated in such a manner that there appeared to be a desire to obliterate them altogether. We want some assistance. '' Mr Allen also thought the suggestion a good one, for. instead of one, two. or three, or even four separate bodies worrying the Minister, it could be all done by one representative body, such as would be brought about by industrial co-operation. Mr Luke said that the reason why the association had not nipt with better success was the advent of t-he Employers' Association. He wanted to say nothing that would injure that body. On this point it was generally acrrpcd that the two could very well work hand in hand. It was stated that many manufacturers who belonged to the Industrial Association were not members of the Employers' Association. A friend from W.A. sent congratulations to Labour" member Kirwan on his t-lpct.ion. and the following are cut .from Mick's reply as per Wcstralian "Worker":—"l was one of the 400 railway men who came out on strike, and because I took an active part in the, general strike Ihey refused to put mc back in my position as foreman porter at central station. So I took on Brishane as a forlorn hope. .. . The other side arc simply ramping mad at a railway porter and a striker beating Forrest, after him holding the seat for 14 years. They would sooner have lost all the other scats around Brisbane than lose t.he premier constituency of Queensland. Even now they are talking of lodging an appeal. . . . We scored around Brisbane, where the strike was felt worst, and where, the people know the fafts. but the lies of the papers beat us in the country. The redistribution of seats was also against us. We lost several good men. but we hope to do better next, time." "In future a business that can only exist by the starvation of rte workers will have to be suppressed as a public nuisance." said Jerome K. Jerome, the famous novelist-, at Cambridge. ■ "The unrest- of labour is the healthiest sign of the age. Blind in itself, and madIdqned 'by injustice, labour van, like Samson of old. shatter the temple in its despair, bring the whole social structure down in ruin and in dust. But, given hope., it will build up. not destroy. Myself, I have no fear of labour. I see a body of men realizing the vastness of the power that has come into theif hands, and recognising the duties and responsibilities that it involves— mined to claim for themselves no more than justice, apd expediency demand; grasping the interdependence in every civilized State of ch-ss upon classwishful, as one. of their leader* in language that other political parties might do well to learn has said, to regard themselves as citizens first and as Members of this or that section afterwards. The social revolution ha-s got to come. The duty of every thinking man is to help to prepare the way for it—that it may fome upon us, not armed with anger and with hatred, but clothed in reason, bearing promise in its hand."