WATCHING!

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 419, 30 January 1909, Page 6

WATCHING!

THE EYES OF LABOUR. HOW THEY VIEW THE DEFENCE FUND. ■ AS PROPOSED BY EMPLOYEES. •< .Labour people -are watching' the suggestion of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand" Federation that a. general fund..fofethe,'protection- of employers should be'established.','According to the employers •in 'Auckland' the fund- should be one "from which: payments' should be made ,to-;pattially.''inake."good;-losses arising out of decreased Vprofit;.':damage to property;.' cost of. defending.,'or sustaining .any. action- in Court, recognition of menV loyalty to. employers', 'or ". any 'other.? kindred ■ purposes." What the,.workers: think about'the proposal inaylbe gathered from the following series of. interviews obtained by a: Dominion . reporter, yesterday ;j~'-'• '';'■ :,... '■ ';-. ■'■. •■': Only' Right that Employers should Organise. 'V Upon .beingiflsked what were his views on. -the question, the.Hon. John Rigg said: "The ompldyere ; .wouldyi,in..my : :opinion, be doing quite, right : to" federate, ana establish a defence fund; I have'always considered'it advisable '. that; .employers, as'well 'as workers should be thoroughly organised, because when xhat is";the case, arrangements'can be entered into.betweeE..the' i two bodies to ..their mutual . ; adv^nta|e./ ; y'Any | ;arrangeme ; nt come "to 'in siich; circumstances* wouTd;j of course have much.greaterAstability. by reason of the organisation 6fthg Employers. When the .employers, arb not;banded together, a'certain number..6f employers'might be willing to'en-, teiy.into a; satisfactory arrangement with a union of workers or,their employees, and find , the arrangement , :prove ineffective' through' :'non^bservance i of.'it.by those competing with' ■them;;^ The'.snggested "loyalty" fund would •under its.jrqper name only be a fund for the remuneration and 'encouragement of bla'ck:'?g?v.''l'n.Sye'such''contempt for.that class of worker .that,l;,do;not care whether the , empays.them ;or not. .'Then again- 1 can-' 'not anticipate'that'there will |be any damage to properfo through strikes'in the Dominion. Ji, property , is damaged at all it will be'by ir-'i responsible individuals, arid it will not bedone with'the,bbgnlsa'rice'.oi: the nnibns..j It- seems reasonable.that-:the";employers shonkTestab-' 'lisn a .'.fnnd ! :to. j compensate ■ themselves ■on .a ico^operative , principle for;losses in profits' and •'eg? l ,-expenses,,arising;, through ■ industrial troubles..;;l,;therefore, think that if ..'the-eni-such a fund as is proposed, ;it ! wiir.do.g6od,nbt:only to-those immediately ioonoernody ;>out ; <:aleo'..'to. the; people'■ of the' >..;■■; .:■-,;..-; : : .--.••; !: 'was'.th'e''opinion ,bf Mr. ■ D.' .memberrfp'r Wellington''East, that,tte formation: of :the; suggested fuiuT would-,be.re§arded;:as-an:ofFensive rather than a' defensive:, acton .by, the .-workers;'.': There .could ■.be_np;doubt:in. his-mind- but that the organised, bodies v.pf;. labour would consider ■^ ,^T^'^^"'^llti,^>ef '- at4 » i *. ; : an ?.»rot:Soiirse,; ..they• ! would.'of necessity' re-' S^^^'T' 81 f^; v' & B PPe"ed to 'sim5 im . that . tH Employers' Federation was indulging.' in ; loose'talk when 1 it spoke -of tne;-.■.■•necessity:,;for defence against ..damage'' pe^; '-^ gh:;strikes ''' A ny' industrial ,trpubles that -had as/yet arisen ih.'the Do;minion,;had -'certainly.'not taken the•;form of rating, or destruction of property in any .» ft ;farg£defencV funds/on.both sides:was.'.to be followed, and.the employers'-iurther. sought ; to: win support ;of a section, .of-the; workers, by ..payment .to them 'of_ what they termed loyal 'action,, but" ff«h;the;:or gam sed-. : l a bonr.-a]wd y s' regarded 1 £ s v^cHeggmg^then , there was--very little', hope of .either : conciliation Ml %£* tlon^P ]d ;ibe carried -,out success-. : liisfellow-workers the need , for creating; lar K e ; :. 'but -only, .for '■ the purpose ' ..protecfahg-their ■legal.ights,: and'aSng fefe*members ;6f the. organisation: That.4abour;when once'aroused tethe necessity, could;- build-up;;large-: funds beyond' doubt:' i ln .. : <»™ect>Pn 'oL iT- a * :* e 'Pr e sent:time, ,he knew .one wharf,labourers;.union in Australia that was cheerfully ;making:a. donation of £250 and. .would .not feel any: 'strain 'upon, its fi- :

■'jf,Y Employers May be Sorry Later On. . i - ; Whilst_it;was';perfectly':ijgitim'ate' on the part.of.either, organised-Capital or organised Labour,-, tofbreate".'any/central; fund they might .please, there wa 3 -considerable' danger ■■ to^the.-: public t where/;such 'action w&a taken purely on selfish grounds, and was ; the outcome of a policy which' found expreV sion^ in.- bitterness,and,exaggeration. He reared; ; that vthe :■ employers : who ■< had been speaking of rthe attacks of Labour on Capital did; not .care; to-giTO the whole facts of the situation. _It. ; could/:not;.i n -hi s . judgment,-: be demonstrated that the workers in New were; getting anything of a'larger share of the,.wealth. created if the value of monev was. taken "into, consideration,' which 1 was, the only .'sound v basis for ■ computing wages. ;,It .was, a.'most-remarkable thing to rSS' mm eight/ or ten years ago had Lttleor,:no\ capital; and to-day weri in a large .way of business' complaining of the conditions-mi the Dominion, when they -themselves -had.benefited >;'the very laws and .methods which>had been m vogue. ; As' a .means of industrial insurance the settlement t disputes '.by either conciliation , or arbibion has'undoubtedly been a'great advane> to the employers. If the employers de- - - Y^y™ . to orely -on. voluntary -created , ; funds which.might,be used for industrial'war(tarevthfin they should- consider at-the com- . mencement-that: the insurance they ■ might ; •We tp, ,pay, by-way of ,large dislocation of trade +i s(;ould,.probably_far.outweigh any bur-. aen.-thatithoy.,'had-hitherto to-meet EmpJpyers asva, class _ were • generally regarded by.the.puMio.as being-possessed of a greater measure of. education ,than the workers. But * had-'really thrown'down the gauntlet—and hebelieved that they had'doneso, and in a bellicose-manner, too—then their action..was,,likely..:to. engender: strife, for whicn tney..as.:-a>;class.might later be very sorry.,./^.-v-"7,;v■ ■;,'!,'.-. ■ -u-. ■-..:■. ....■.■ ■■■'.-:■'■

Day'of" Small Strikes Cone. "The proposal to form an employers' defence fund is, of course, a matter entirely for tho employers " observed Mr. Reardon secretary of the General Labourers' Union bo few workers were, he continued, likely to go out on stake that the fund would in all probability not t be called upon to any extent. Were-the'workers' organisations de-' termined upon striking it would only be in cases where tho fund would bo of very little value." The workers knew too well tho detrimental effects-of a; strike to encourage'anything of that' nature in industries ivhere the chances "of success were small. Nowadays tho tendency was to centralise the control of workers' organisations, so that there would .Klcss 'possibility , than there had been in tho past of , small bodies of men going out on strike in moments of'excitement or forgetfulness, and then subsequently relying for support on the larger bodies. It would be noticed by recent cables that the Sydney Trades Council had decided that in future-a strike could not take place until tho matter had first been referred to tho central executive. The experience in New South Wales had been somowhat similar to that of tho Wellington Trades Council. It would be romemberfd in connection with the recent bakstrikoHhat ,the workers before going out on.strike asfed the Trades Council to let thorn manage their own business in their own waj. Within a fortnight after the strike had commenced, and when the fight was hopelessly lost, tho workers throw themselves on tho Trades Council. He hold that if dispute,? were considered dispassionatelv bv disinterested bodies of workers there would bo fewer strikes of a nature where tho possibilities of winning wero small. For example, it would bo foolish of any body of men to order a strike of, sav, unskilled labourers, because tho places of tho. .workers could be so casilv filled, and in most instances tho work could, if necessary, bo held over for an indefinite period. It was therefore probnblo that in tho future strikes would ohlv occur in such industries where tho possibilities of winning : wero-.strong, even»,although thoro was not great financial support bohind it. Who will Benefit by the Loyalty Fund? With regard to tho proposed loyalty fund, ho would suggest that the nronosil was

rather a good idea;- The unions would probably in that way be able toi.add something to their own funds I .They'might arrange with a limited number, of their party "bo stick to J their masters' guns," and when they were rewarded hand the money over to the organisation to, which they belonged, for its future use. He was surprised to see that the ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce had.: said ,that it "was ■ the matfer.i of .wages that had made the flaxmillirig industry unlucrative. 'Anyone connected with the l industry, must know thatit was the excessive royalties:that' had injured the industry. Not long ago a flaxmiller had shown him that the royalty which-he was required to pay was greater than the whole of the cost of producing the. fibre., Referring to a statement by the president of the Wellington Employers' Association, '''that honest workers had been •led. astray by agitators,"-he said that; it might lead, one ix> suppose that.the ■secretaries.; of thei unions, were . "self-appointed,, .whereas; as , : a matter of fact,-, they ... were, elected .by. the workers to carry on their.business'in the same way as secretaries were appointed >to'look after the.interests of employers' associations. . Employers need not concern themselves very much about specially organising 1 -a defence 'fund at ■ the'-i present time, -/because' it would probably be found that the..most notable .'achievement of the Hon. vMillar'B : famous amendment to the . Arbitration Act'would 'be its success:in atitomaticsilly 'organising the Under ■ the. old :Act';.everv : employer, if he so, ; desired; couldjaiipear before the Conciliation Boa,rd;. but under:the' new .measure employers; like the. workers; ;would only be'privileged to be represented-;b'y .three■ persons. Therefore, , ;if the employers wished uniformity of action, it wonld be necessary ■ for them; to establish thoroughCprgariisations. '.-. . , -.V