Unionism
Sir,—G. Steven and W. L. Young (October 1) favour the retentipn of compulsory voluntary rather than a return to voluntary
compulsory membership. The current law has been appropriately described as a ‘‘freeloader’s charter” in that all workers must be paid no lower than unionnegotiated rates and receive unionnegotiated conditions, but now do not have to pay for the upkeep of their organisation. The burden of protecting minimum rates arid conditions now falls on fee-paying members. No citizen has the right to opt out of paying taxes and rates from which we all benefit — the principle is the same. Voluntary unionism gives workers no “freedom” that they already did not possess with the conscientious objection procedure, it merely gives -some unscrupulous employers the freedom to exploit unprotected workers. — Yours, etc.,
GARTH LOMAX. October 3, 1984.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19841005.2.104.3
Bibliographic details
Press, 5 October 1984, Page 16
Word Count
135Unionism Press, 5 October 1984, Page 16
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.