VOLUNTEER SYSTEM SUPPORTED

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14481, 29 September 1947, Page 2

VOLUNTEER SYSTEM SUPPORTED

TAURANGA FIRE BRIGADE Members May Have To Join Union Decisive N.Z. Majority Against Proposal A statement that the Tauranga Volunteer Fire Brigade was wholeheartedly in support of the volunteer system, was made by the Superintendent (Mr Arthur Stewart) to a representative of The Times yesterday. Similar outlooks have been expressed by certain other brigades. Volunteer members of the New Plymouth fire brigade have decided unanimously against joining the Fire Brigade Employees’ Union, while at a meeting of the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board it was decided to write to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W.

Parry, and protest against forcing the men to join the .unions. ■ The Auckland board has been advised that volunteer workers in fire brigades may be required to join their local Fire Brigades Employees’ Union, in spite of the fact that in a Dominion ballot 2281 volunteer workers voted against joining firemen’s unions, while only 57 favoured the proposal. This information was received in a letter from the New Zealand Fire Boards’ Association. The Superintendent of the Tauranga brigade explained that members of his organisation gave the service because they liked the work, and' in some respects it was a kind of hobby. However, it was also a service to the community and members did not want to be biought under any compulsion such as union rules would impose.