UNEMPLOYED WORKERS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21808, 13 June 1936, Page 5

UNEMPLOYED WORKERS

ALLEGED COMMUNIST DOMINATION RESIGNATION OP EXECUTIVE The Christchurch executive of the National Unemployed Workers’Movement resigned in a body on grounds embodied in a unanimous resolution which runs as follows; —“That the executive resigns in a body, because of the majority appointment of an alleged policy committee, which replaces the function of the executive and amounts to a vote of no-confl-dence in the executive, and also brings about the general domination of the local political Communist party. Mr W. G. Glanville, a member of the “alleged policy committee referred to in the resolution, stated last evening that only two of the six members of the committee were members of the Communist party. He added that the committee was elected at a constitutional meeting of unemployed workers on May 19, that its report made to the executive was an indication that it intended to co-operate with the executive, and that the endorsement of this report by the meeting last Tuesday was not a vote of no-confidence in the executive. Vote on Policy

He referred further to an announcement made after the meeting of the executive yesterday that the report had been carried at Tuesday’s meeting by 30 votes to 27, but that many of those present were not members of the movement, and stated that the president had stated at this meeting that all unemployed workers whether members or not were eligible to vote. This was in accordance with the constitution of the movement. Mr H. J. Greatorex, a delegate of the Waimakariri relief workers said that more than 100 of these workers had left the meeting to discuss whether they would join the Unemployed Workers’ Movement or the New Zealand Workers’ Union when the vote was taken. These men had been informed that they were not eligible as relief workers to join the union, according to a statement by the Minister for Employment (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong), and had finally decided to hold a further meeting to discuss the matter. Another matter discussed by the men was the provision for making up time lost on wet days, to which objection has been raised. Report of Committee The report submitted to the executive by the policy committee stated that profound dissatisfaction existed among the unemployed, particularly sustenance men, who had little cause to congratulate themselves on the accession to power of the Labour Government, which had not fulfilled its election pledges. The recent announcement of increases for sustenance men were inadequate to cover even the increases in the cost of living, and the loss of depot relief called for a policy of action. The policy committee, the report added, recommended the issue of a leaflet to all sustenance men at the bureau. This should deal with the grievances on all relief jobs, in camps, at Lyttelton, New Brighton, Kaiapoi. Ashburton, and among a certain number of employed workers in factories and workshops in the city. It was further recommended that organisers should speak at the bureau, and on all relief jobs, and that the trade union movement be approached for support through the Trades and Labour Council and the Alliance of Labour;. It was urged that women’s organisations be asked to co-operate and to put forward demands affecting unemployed women. Another recommendation was that in addition to demands for the operation of the sustenance provisions of the 1930 act and full trade union rates on all relief jobs, all written and spoken propaganda should include demands for the right to strike, a mandatory 40-hour week, no camp campulsion, increased hospital board relief and abolition of the U.B. forms. It was urged that opposition should be made against co-operative contract sustenance payments to youths and girls between the ages of 16 and 20 years, and that home inspections by the Unemployment Board should be abolished. It is further recommended that a mass meeting be held with a view to making a demonstration to the Government. A further meeting of unemployed workers will be held next Tuesday. A new executive would, in the normal course of events, be elected in a ballot which closes on June 23.