Stop-Work Meetings

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31318, 14 March 1967, Page 16

Stop-Work Meetings

Sir,—The Prime Minister and some of your correspondents think that the Federation of Labour should not hold stop-work meetings. The situation is as farcical as if two men are having an argument and in the process one is struck a blow in the face. The aggressor loses his footing and falls flat on his back; he then asks the injured person to help him to his feet. A lot has been written about an article that appeared in the “Tablet.” Could I draw your attention to another article in the issue of that paper dated March 1? It is headed “The P.M. Cops It.” It reads: “During the weeks following his announcement of the new economic measures the Prime Minister must have wished that the advertisement in the Wellington ‘Evening Post’ could come true. ‘Come Back Nordy; AU is Forgiven’.” —Yours, etc., percy l. mcmillan. Saltwater Creek, March 13, 1967.

Sir,—The farmer, in response to the call for a production step-up, has responded with a will. As everyone knows, the sheep population has gone up by millions in an effort to maintain if not increase the size of the national cake. Every other day we read of the demands of trade unions and others for a larger share of this cake. , Now we are to have the spectacle of cake-diminish-ing action, ostensibly to show up the errors of the Government when everybody knows, or should know, that these very moaners have been and continue to be the cause of the present trouble. So Mr Skinner is to address stopwork meetings of his dutiful “sheep” at a time when their efforts should be honest service at their respective jobs.— Yours, etc., DOWN WITH MOANERS. March 13, 1967.

Sir, —Never in New Zealand history has there been such need for a stop-work meeting, in spite of the “Tablet’s” editorial condemning it as childish. New Zealand is not to become a fascist country like Spain and Latin America where free speech and human rights are restricted. Our Government arrogantly and without Parliamentary debate has slashed the workers’ wages, their overtime work, left them high and dry with commitments, and has lowered their standard of living while the elderly dither in financial fear. The Government blames the worker for the economic mess! Who joined the World Bank against majority opinion, spent huge sums on defence, had costly overseas trips, imported luxury goods, and mortgaged the country by borrowing? Not the worker. A stop-work meeting is the right place to do the “counting out” of the Government and to talk of economic readjustments.—Yours, etc., DEMOCRACY. March 13, 1967.