TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 115, 16 May 1924, Page 9

TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMr.) UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. Monday, May If)— Furniture Trades. Hairdressers. Cutters and Trcssers, Freezing Works Employee? Tuesday. Mar "Jn— Plunders. Wednesday. May I'l—Auckland Carpenters. Tliis.erers. Oneuunsa Carpenters. Thursday May 22— Plumbers' Krtuwitlonal. iTlday, May is— Bcamsuieu. APPRENTICES ACT. As foreshadowed in last week's note?, ! the recommendations of the Apprenticeship Committee in the Auckland Paintin" . Irade were submitted to the Arbitration i I Cou't at the end of last week, and vail | .be held until the committees in the j southern centres have also filed their re- ! commendations, when a pronouncement of I , working conditions for that trade for the I • Dominion will be made by the Court. In j : the meantime, it is expected that the j j working conditions for the trainees will ' !be observed as in the last award. With'l i the plumbers' recommendations not being I i signed by the employers in time for the j I hearing set down by the Court, the mat- I i ter has been deferred until the arrival of I I the Court in Auckland three months ■ hence. The painters' recommendations, therefore, have the distinction of being the first set filed in any trade in the Dominion under the new Act. RESUSCITATION. A movement is on foot amongst the Auckland unions to resuscitate the Auckland Trades and Labour Council to conserve the rights of workers on industrial lines. Tune was when the Trades ■ and Labour Councils, of which there were J branches in each important centre of the I Dominion, were regarded as of no mean ; importance in the land. In each centre I the council was composer] of delegates from each of the unions, and each Easter I a conference of delegates from each j council was held at each city in turn, at j which remits dealing with 'amendments Ito the industrial laws of the Dominion I were discussed and dealt with. The ' decisions of each conference were regarded as the desires and aspirations of the workers as a whole, and the Govcrni nient of the day, which was for many years led by Ballance, Seddon, and Ward, regarded these decisions with interest and a certain amount of respect. So much was this so, that delegates to the I annual conferences travelled to and from I the conventions on free passes issued on j train and boat. It is not boasting to assert that a great deal of the industrial legislation under which we work to-day first had its inception in the Trades and 1 Labour Councils' meetings. True, the I conferences did not get all they asked j j for—it was not expected; but each year I I the Liberal Government adopted a cerI tain proportion of the reforms asked for, and embodied them in bills that were passed by the Parliament. But with the advent of the Reform party the influence of the councils began to wane, and the unions (some of them) established the United Federation of Labour to take up J the running, but the U.F.L. never filled i the place of the old councils. Now the U.F.L. is no more, and unions are reverting to the old ideal. In the south trades councils are in operation, and only Auckland amongst the large centres is wanting. On Slay (5 advantage was j taken of the presence of Mr. j. Bead, , president of the Wellington Trades and ! Labour Council, in Auckland, and he de- , livered an address at the Trades Hall to union officials on the need of a council jin the northern metropolis, with the rei suit that a resolution was passed in favour of the proposal, and the Trades . Hall Trust was asked to issue circulars !to the local unions asking them to send . their executives to a conference at the Trades Hall on June 25 next, to discuss the establishment of a local. . Trades Council on industrial lines. These invitai tions are now being sent in accordance ] with the instructions given at the meet- ' ing. Only industrial unions are eligible ■ to be represented at the meeting, as political organisations can join other societies. MINERS AND CONTRACTS. By a six-to-one vote the convention of ' the United Mine Workers of America declared that when miners sign an agreei ment this pledge must be kept. j The decision was made in the case of r the Nova Scotia district which, supported I the Communist internationale and indulged in an illegal strike. President I j Lewis showed that this district, in defiance of its contract and union practices, ordered out pump men, imperilling property to the extent of millions of dollars, j President Lewis suspended the district i last summer. "Either you want to uphold the law and abide by your contracts . or you don't," said the miners' executive, who declared that a vote against the report of the committee is a vote against I the sanctity of contracts. j "By such a vote you will say to the world that you are. more concerned with your private passions and prejudices than in upholding the contractural obligations of your union,"'continued President Lewis. The suspension of the district was upheld by a vote of 1800 to 300. LABOUR AND LIFE INSURANCE. I Life insurance controiiea X>y organise* Labour is a hear probability according to George W. Perkins, president of the Cigar Makers' International Union (says ! the "American Federation of Labour News Ser\'ice - '). At the last A. F. of L. convention President Gompers was authorised to appoint a committee to make a survey of the various life insurance systems. ! "Billions of dollars are invested, in the insurance business," says President Peri kins. "There is no reason \vhy the ! unions affiliated to the A. F. of L. should not jointly control the insurance for their members. Such a company could be conducted on co-operative non-profit-bearing lines. The overhead cost would be greatly reduced, and if only' one-half.of the workers now organised joined in such a movement it would make the largest and most powerful insurance . company in the whole world, and would !be the cheapest and the safest. I "Such a concern, when fo.rmed, would necessarily, under the insurance laws, have to' maintain a specified reeereve fund. This fund could be used for home building purposes for our members and for any , other legitimate proper pur- ! pose that would add to the comfort and well-being of the wage-earning masses."