LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 19

LABOUR NOTES.

UNION ACTIVITIES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. Saturday, September 34 — Waterside Workers. Monday, September 28 — Bricklayers, Saddlers. Tuesday, September 27—Stonemasons. Wednesday. September 2S—Bus Drivers 4A.M. and P.M.). Friday, September 30—Engineers. I THE ELECTION FEVER. The interest of the general public in the general elections three weeks hence transcends all other topics just now. The Spanish war and the fluctuating fortunes of the contending parties in Chinahave had to take a back seat in the public interest in New Zealand this week, because the candidates have taken the field, holding meetings in their respective electorates, so a-s to make "their calling and election sure.'' Even the settlement of the Czechoslovakian trouble has taused less public interest than the question of which party will be returned to power on October 15. It lis only natural, after all, that we must settle affairs in our own family before we can be expected to spare much anxiety for the domestic affairs of our neighbours. Xow that the electioneering meetings, with all their interjections, humour and excitements are in full swing, other functions have to get along as best they can. ORDERLY MEETINGS. This week the Commissioner of Police, Mr. D. J. Cuinmings, made a. public pronouncement that order must be maintained at all political meetings, and that no organised interruptions or "hooliganism' at candidates' meetings will be allowed by the police. This pronouncement has also been endorsed l>y the Minister in Charge of the Police Department, the Hon. Peter Fraser. It is necessary and timely, and should be obeyed by all parties and persons. The average citizen likes to hear both sides of a question, so as to form his own opinion, and the person who cannot sit and listen to any argument or statement from the other side without loss of temper has no right to attend the meeting. He should stay at home. PAID HOLIDAYS. From time to time in this column there have been reports from the Old Country on the growing necessity for all workers in an industry to have the right to enjoy an annual holiday on full pay, such pay to come from the industry in which they are employed. Sir Walter Citrine, the eminent Labour leader, general-secretary of the British Trade Union Congress, speaking at Dundee in connection with the campaign organised by the Dundee Trades Council, said it was a most significant fact that a Government committee, having exhaustively examined the whole question, had unanimously recommended that annual holidays with pay should, without undue delay, be made a part of the contract of employment of all employees. He attributed this strong consensus of to the growing -realisation that modern conditions of work imposed upon the wage-earners an increasing nervous strain. The appeal for this principle has met with a fairly generous response from the manufacturing firm* and public bodies of the United Kingdom, and the workers of the far-flung Dominion of New Zealand are also gradually getting the same principle embodied in their agreements and awards. In Britain there has been great opposition to this principle from some quartern, and from the "Industrial News, published in Lon--1 don, I cull the following:—"The Gloui cester City Council enjoys the unenvii able distinction of being the only muni- . cipal authority, so far as is known, . which requires its manual employees to , pay for their holidays by deduction ■ from wages. Six years ago the Glou- . cester City Council adopted a resolution to the effect that the wages of,employees previously governed by the Joint Indus- , trial Council for Manual Workers (non- . trading) Services for the Western Area, [ should be governed by the award of the National Joint Industrial Council for the building industry, but that such employees should forgo the holidays , hitherto allowed them by the council, , namely, 12 days in a year after two ) years' service, with full pay. The reso- , lution also laid it down that the rate , of wages of carters employed by the council should be a Jd an hour more j that that of labourers, but the resoluj. tion also added that if the employees, including tradesmen, carters and labourers as a whole, wished to retain the benefit of 12 days' holidays in a year s with pay then the rates of wages should IT be a Jd per hour less than the above- » mentioned award.

"From 1932 onwards, therefore, the council's workmen with two years' service and upwards, have been required to pay for their twelve days' holiday in the year by working for jd per hour below the standard building trade rate for the city. Union efforts to obtain the rescinding of the council's resolution have been made without sucjcess." "Attempts are now being made I (says the "Gloucester Labour News") to have the matter re-examined in the light of the strong public demand behind the movement for annual holidays with pay-" ~ A TRADE UNION CARD. A clerk employed in a clearing house at Carlisle was crossing a siding in the course of his duties when he was knocked down and killed. He was a member of the Railway Clerks' Association, which promptly arranged for the widow to be represented at the inquest. A verdict of accidental death was returned, but the jury intimated that they did not feel satisfied that all necessary precautions had been taken. The victim was not employed by the railway company upon whose premises he was working at the time, nor by the same employer as those with whom he was working. It was obvious that a complicated and difficult problem of compensation law would have to be solved; a problem, moreover, involving expenses far beyond the purse of the widow. That was where the Railway Clerks' Association came in. They took the best legal advice, and eventually Obtained £1250 compensation for ths widow. Many thousands of bereaved wives and families would be destitute to-day but for the fact that there was a trade union to look after thftm. , . '