COOKS AND WAITERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 290, 1 September 1908, Page 7

COOKS AND WAITERS.

ORGANISATION AND EXPANSION. CRITICISM'.OF ARBITRATION COURT. It has beon encouragingly said .that "they also serve who only / stand and wait," but the. Wellington Cooks' and -Waiters'. Union isi.ndt 'satisfied'. 1 with such .ljumblo service. Expansion and increased activity are the present watchwords of the union, whose members hold, moreover, thai they "stand and , wpit" too much! ■ The new militant spirit was very, much to the fore at a meeting of -the''union held -last evening. .' "A: special' Meeting was first held,"for the purftdso 'of amendjng the union's rules, many of which had been pronounced obsolete and urisuited;to a progressive age. ; The objects of,'the union were • indefinitely' expressed in a stereotyped formula to be found in most rule" books.--'. Tho formula was, abolished last evening,' and a declaration substituted that the objects are as follow ( {The organisation of all' hotel and resiaiirant workers, in -the Dominion, the feobiiring lof preference of employment ; for'ihembers of the unionj with 48 hourS' Svotk 'in a six days' week for male worarid .42 hours'; work in a six days' week for female workers. "• Under the present " award 65 hours make a' week's : work ;in tho majority .of- cases, except where the Shops and Offices Act imposes 52.'. ! At • the ordinary meoting which followed, the attendance; under. Mr. Bloch, chairman, wis ! the, largest for some-time past. Letters were: received from < the newly-iormed Canterbury. ; and Duriedin unions 1 reporting health and progress. A letter was also received from the Trades and Labour Council, Auckland, stating that steps were being taken to form a union in that city. It was decided \tKat the country workers in the. Wellington district should be organised immediately/ and the secretary (Mr. E. J. Carey), was ■ instructed to' start at once on an. iprgEhisiijg tour.' • . The Wellington Trades and Labour' Council ''wrote,' asking . for _ further contributions for. tho Operative-Bakers' Union. It was resolved that,' as the union had already given £10 to assist the strikers', and as its own plans- for organisation would spell money, the" 'union .could" not ;soo its way to provido further"; Assistance.. A guinea was, however, voted, to the Labour Day. Picnic. Committee of:tho council.. ... ..

-;Mjtaihations inado by the Labour Representation Committoo of candidates for six .Wellington electorates were-endorsed. The Canterbury Trades and Labour Counasking the union to support its resolution demanding tho immediate removal of ; Mr. Justice Sim/ President of the Arbitration Court, and support was also asked fora, petition' of the Canterbury. Farm Labourers', Union to the saine'effect. On tho motion of Mr. E. J. Carey, it was decided that, the union could not endorse the request.';' ■ : : Mr. Carey, in urging the motion, expressed silrprise that.so. important: a • body as the •Canterbury: Trades, and Labour Council .should recommend such drastic action. He. statpd that although the decisions of the Arbitration' Court wore becoming more and more, adverse to the workers, the mere removal of the president would not affect tho grievance. The judgments of tho Court were given after full consideration, and were 'not,.;affected .by pressure of any outside party. No union had more ground for complaint against tho Court ' than had.. tho Ceoks' and Waiters' Union. Tho present Ceurt had treated tho union very badly, but the unioii, realising that its only hope lay in furth'er organisation and more uniform action, ' submitted to t'ho judgment of the Court,' ahd endeavoured to mako tho best of a bad case. "Tlioir only remedy lay in political, action, and'it would be utter futility, even supposing that tho requests of the Canterbury Trades ■ and .Labour Council were likely to bo grainted.to advocato removal of Mr. Justice Sim. If 'attention woro given to • tho. appeals be ill g sent round by the Canterbury Trades and Labour Council, a very bad ; precedent would be established, ana thero would bo a continual see-sawing, ; on the one hand by the employers, and on the, other hand by tho workers, for tho removal of the president of the Court, accordifagly as decisions wero given displeasing to cither party. .' The motion refusing to endorse the requests was passed unanimously.