PREFERENCE TO UNIONISTS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 493, 28 April 1909, Page 7

PREFERENCE TO UNIONISTS.

FURTHER REMARKS BY MR. JUSTICE ■, ■.;■■ . ~v : v sim. ■-; ■ ••-/ ■ ■/ , IB! TBMMIUriI— VUt.Se ASSOCIATION.! • Auckland, April 27. During, an address by Mr. Grosvenor, oh behalf of employers at tho Arbitration Court to-day, lie remarked that the' employers, objected to preference .to principle. "What is, that principle? , ' inquired his Honour; "That argument is used every time and I have never been ablo to discover what the-principjo is." ' . .-. . . • Mr.; Grosvenor said that tho principle was that unionism was made the sign manual of efficiency. ' ■ ■ ' , ' . His Honour said : it seemed to him that some of tho men would take all the benefits .which tho union obtained and would not contribute to the funds of the-union.. A little further on in his address Mr. GiQsvenor mado reference to a ■ statement that had been mado that the number of financial ■members of the' particular union with which they were dealing with about 60.' ' His Honour: "Tho membership of the union is gradually becoming less, and at the present rate tho union will soon be killed. That may bo a consummation dovoutly to be wished for. It is not for. this Court to say,, but whether the Court should assist in it is quite another matter. The workers outside the union have no standing, at all under tho Act, and the only way tho workers can come beforo the .Arbitration Court is throVigh the union." The Court had granted preference, he continued, since, Mr. Justice. Williams's time, and .for.tho employers \to come r.t thia'lato hour ami talk about it "soems to me positively silly," he concluded. ;■'; Chrlstohurclv April 27. : At a meeting of tho Executive, of the Canterbury.' Employers' Association. to-night tho following resolution was passed: "That :the executive/of the association support the Advisory Board in its protest against' any compulsion being brought to bear .upon employers .which..will deprive them..of their right to'select such labour as they deem best suited to their requirements, or which would interfpro with the inherent,: right of every man to earn his living by his labour Unless ho first subscribes to the rulos" of a trade -4111011, to which he may liavo porsonal objection, and .that this association strongly urges upon every employer to oppose the inclusion of any preference clauso in'all awards and , industrial agreements."