Trade Union Congress Demonstration

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26124, 29 May 1950, Page 6

Trade Union Congress Demonstration

The decision of the Trade Union Congress to demonstrate against the removal of some subsidies with ; stop-work meetings throughout New Zealand on the day of the opening iof the Parliamentary session and with a gathering of Wellington I unionists at Parliament Buildings on ! that day is a bad one. It may, incii dentally, be bad for the congress I itself, because many of the men it is seeking to win from the Federation of Labour will doubt whether this is a proper, or a profitable, way of ventilating a grievance. The Federation of Labour, having taken the constitutional course of appearing before the Court of Arbitration, has rightly declined to be a party to such foolishness. In his announcement of the plans of the congress (printed on Saturday), the chairman (Mr F. G. Young, M.L.C.) said that if essential services joined in the demonstration they would be expected to “ cut, the hold-up ” to a

minimum and so reduce incSnvenience to the public. That was playing with words. Nation-wide stopwork meetings may cause a little inconvenience to the people directly but will inconvenience them much more indirectly through the loss of valuable production and through industrial unrest. And inconvenience and loss are about all that the demonstration is likely to achieve. As for the gathering at Parliament Buildings, many Wellington members of the congress should remember that five years ago they marched with other unionists to Parliament Buildings to protest against a demonstration planned (and cancelled) by a business organisation. The marchers then applauded a spokesman who said their purpose was to show that an elected Government had the right to govern without intimidation from | businessmen or any other section of j the community. It is as true now as | it was five years ago that citizens, I 'hough they have the right to carry ; their grievances to Parliament, have i no right to do so in any intimidatI ing way. That is not the way issues ' are settled in a democracy. To hold ! such a demonstration on the day I when the Governor-General opens the session is an affront not only to the King’s representative but also to the democratic institutions of New Zealand, symbolised by the ceremonial at Parliament Buildings. The leaders of the Trade Union Congress (who include a Legislative Councillor) ! show by this gesture a different view of democracy from that commonly held in New Zealand, and I different from that applauded by Wellington unionists five years ago.