PURPOSE OF STRIKE

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 292, 9 December 1936, Page 8

PURPOSE OF STRIKE

BRIDGES TELLS WHY. AUSTRALIAN LEADER IN U.S. WAGES AND SHORTER HOUKS. (From Our own Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO, November 18. One of the largest gatherings in San Francisco's kaleidoscopic annals was that held in Dreamland Auditorium, with the object of the members of the maritime federation giving the people of the United States some idea of the issues underlying the costly shipping dispute. Jack Shelley, vice-president of the San Francisco Labour Council, presided over an attendance of fully 10,000, and stated at the outset that Labour in the United States at the present juncture was oh the threshold of a new era. After various, speakers had addressed the gathering, Harry Bridges, the militant Australian president of the Pacific Coast Longshoremen's Association, was accorded an overwhelming reception, the whole gathering rising and cheering for several minutes.

Continuation of Hiring Halls. "We want to bring our message to the people of America," said Bridges. "The present struggle is the climax of many attacks on the Pacific Coast, based not merely on a desire for higher wages and less working hours. These attacks are aimed at destroying the Labour organisations and the solidarity and militancy that accrues to those organisations born in the 1934 general strike and continued until in 1930 we have been forced to tight to. maintain- the organisation and the principles upon which it lias been built. This is a strike which we hope will be settled expeditiously. (Cheers.) We demand the continuation of the hiring hall, a system which has removed the grievances under which longshoremen have worked, in which rank discrimination was exercised by employers. They insisted on the terrific speed-up in the course of the men's work. If you did not work at top speed to the iast ounce of your endurance you were not again hired. "You had to buy drinks for the bosses to get a day's work, or you were not hired. lam sure you will tight to a finish against return to previous conditions on the Pacific Coast. (Cheers.) We also gained the six-hour day which marked progress in the labour movement of America, and it would be a betrayal in the eyes of the nation to relinquish that six-hour day. Sixli'our day is hcj'e, and must be extended to include all America, and we stand ready to back it up. (Cheers.) The shipowners have complained that longshoremen who operate on the waterfront have pushed inland with their movement, but I notice those workers inland have lodged rib complaint. (Applause.) Different Picture. "'I':!;! significance of this strike needs some attention, and now it has spread with a n entirely different picture. Now it is of national scope, and we have tied up the maritime industry of the entire country. Our present programme is that it stays tied up until those d'unands are met for all ihe unions. (Cheers.) 1 lie scope of the strike extends further than demands of hours and wages. Tt extends to those labour organisations that have too long, because of their officialdom and policies, become recognised as a blot on the labour movement of America. We must get rid of this backwardness of officialdom that has blighted the labour movement. This strike will accomplish a great deal, and we cannot lose regardless of what happens. It will advance the cause of labour throughout the country. "Regarding the Government subsidies of the United States, the present Administration was returned by an overwhelming vote that came mainly from the Labour movement, and it is only reasonable to expect that the Government, elected on the platform of being friendly to Labour, will be friendly to Labour. (Applause.)

"In this maritime strike the pressure of the Government has been directed to the unions, but it must be directed to the employers who have been given hundreds of millions of dollars. It is in the power of the Government to exert pressure on the employers who depend on that Government for the assistance and operation of their ships. We don't only expect this, but demand it, that the Government apply pressure on the employers." (Cheers.) Bridges made the startling announcement that the Pacific shipowners were preparing for a four-moutlis' strike, and sa.iu the strikers were' wise to the false propaganda that had been hurled around. "The strikers will remain solid until the fundamental demands are met,"' he shouted amidst acclamation. "If the shipowners wish to settle this strike they can do so quickly, as each union stands ready to resume negotiations to-morrow, and is willing to settle the strike within a few hours by the guarantee of those fundamental issues. These demands are justifiable, and we cannot tolerate destruction of organised labour, but will fight to secure decent quarters, better wages, and shorter hours." (Applause.) On an appeal to the massed demonstration a unanimous vote favoured the strike of the 37,000 maritime workers.