The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1938. WHO FAVOURS STRIKES?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 282, 29 November 1938, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1938. WHO FAVOURS STRIKES?

For the cause that larfcn assistance, For the wrong that neede resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

How long are the frequent and costly

stoppages of work, of which that at Westlield is the latest example, to go f »» ? What is their purpose? The community,

including n very large number of unionists, is asking these questions, hours of the .sudden decision of a j'roup of men t(» .-top work, tlien ut' negotiation* and finally of a ''settlement" which results in work being resumed. In tho meanwhile the men directly concerned have lost wages and the coinnuinity, too, has suffered inconvenience and loss. Is there any pain to be ,-et against the loss? If there is, it is usually hard to discover. Even if every grievance which causes men to stop work were legitimate, the fact remains that there aro facilities available for redressing it, without stopping work, and it is the legal duty of every unionist to use those facilities. Why arc they not used?

A correspondent whoso letter is published to-dny suggests im answer to this last question. He says that decisions to stop work are customarily made lit " nuiss meetings," by a show of hands, after exhortations by an aggressive minority, that moderating voices are shouted down and that workers who are absent becati-e. of bring; on other shifts have no voice <it all. )>ii b aro bound by the "decision." Independent inquiries lead to the conclusion that the conditions described by the correspondent are by no means fanciful. What is the remedyT Clearly, tho workers have it in their own hands; they mint better control their own affairs. To aid them— especially in unions whore young men and women may be carried away or intimidated by the tactics of an aggressive minority— tho Government might well consider making secret ballots compulsory. If it is fundamentally important—as it is—that the Parliamentary franchise should be secret, is it any less important that the worker should have the right to a secret vote on questions which directly affect his pay envelope ?