ONCE AGAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 37, 14 February 1939, Page 8

ONCE AGAIN.

BATTLE PENDING. LABOUR FACTIONS. LOCAL INDUSTRIAL RIFT. CASE OF MR. T. STANLEY. Further "skirmishes" between opposing factions composing the Auckland district council of the Federation of Labour are anticipated on Thursday evening next, when a determined attempt will be made to remove from office Mr. T. Stanley, the council's sole representative on the National Council of the Federation of Labour.

At the December meeting of the council the delegates by 65 votes co Ho passed a vote of no-confidence in Mr. Stanley as its representative on the national body, on the alleged grounds that he opposed a recommendation by the national executive to the men involved in the Otahuhu railway workshops strike to return to work pending an investigation of their grievances. Executive's Advice. At the time the motion was interpreted as the initial step in a campaign to purge the industrial movement in Auckland of the more extreme elements, and it was expected to precipitate the resignation of Mr. Stanley. However, Mr. Stanley promptly declared that he had no intention of following this course, and, in fact, he has not done so. Since December the position has been given consideration by the national executive of the federation, and it has now advised the district council that, should it wish to pursue the matter further, it should declare Air. Stanley's position vacant and appoint a successor.

Accordingly, at this week's mcetiug, the president of the council, Mr. F. G. Young, will move the following notice of motion: "That in view of the resolution of uo-coniidenee passed at the council meeting on December 19, 1938, on T, Stanley, national council representative, I give notice to move at the next council meeting that the position be declared vacant, and a successor appointed forthwith."

Mr. Young is at present in Wellington on business connected with the New Zealand Hotel Workers' Federation, of which he is secretary, and it is possible that a case he has to conduct before the Arbitration Court will extend over until Thursday. If such is the case, it is understood he will fly from Wellington to Auckland on Tliursdav in order to be present at the council meeting in the evening and move his notice of motion. This alone will be a departure from ordinary practice, and is indicative of the importance which many of those in industrial Labour circles in Auckland attach to the move for purging the district council of its alleged extreme elements.

The capacity of the president's followers as opposed to the supporters of Mr. Stanley to accomplish this, has already been proved, for, in addition to the no-confidence vote in December, last

month the vote taken on the nominees for the position of workers' delegate to the International Labour Conference at .Geneva gave Mr. Stanley only second preference to Mr. J. Roberts, of Christchurch. Furthermore, the strength of Mr. Young's following was also revealed when the meeting authorised Mr. Youn<r and the secretary, Mr. H. Campbell, to make statements for publication, with the consent of the delegates. Actually neither man has made a statement in this capacity, and this morning Mr. Campbell refused to comment on the position when questioned with respect to the notice of motion in Mr. Young's name. ° A Steady Swing Back. Inquiries in union circles to-day, however, suggested that in recent" weeks there has been a steady ewing back to industrial stability in Auckland, several organisations having elected fresh delegates to the District Council of the Federation—men believedly opposed to retaining Mr. Stanley in any important executive position. In this category, it is stated, comes the Otahuhu workshops' branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, which has effected drastic changes in the personnel of its executive officers and delegates to central organisations. This swing-back is gaining impetus, and it is estimated

that it has already accounted for over a dozen votes, thus widening appreciably the margin between the voting strength of the contending factions. The notice of motion by Mr. Young is apparently following the procedure dictated by the national council in accordance with clause 20 of the constitution of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, which reads, inter alia, as follows: "Any member of the national executive or national council aot, satisfactorily performing the duties allotted to him or violates the constitution may, at a special meeting of the national council convened for the purpose, he suspended or removed and hia position be declared vacant." The Trades Council is given the right to fill the vacancy, and the member removed has the right of appeal to the annual conference of the federation. Therefore, even if tic, notice of motion is carried on Thursday evening, its repercussions will probably be felt at the annual conference, which will precede the annual conference of the Labour party at Easter.