DOMESTICS’ UNION

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 185, 4 May 1936, Page 8

DOMESTICS’ UNION

Movement to Form N.Z.Wide Organisation START IN CHRISTCHURCH A movement is afoot to form a New Zealand-wide domestic servants’ union, with the support of the Alliance of Labour. An effort is already being made to form such a union in Christchurch, and the provision of the legislation that 15 financial members must be obtained before a union can be organised has been met. To-morrow night a meeting of persons interested is to be held.- It is hoped that the proposal will be taken up in other parts of the Dominion. Mrs. J. Souter, a member of the Girls’ Unemployment Committee, has shouldered the responsibility of organising the union, and has received offers of co-operation and assistance from the Alliance of Labour. She has also been promised the support of a number of women who are interested in improving the conditions under which domestics work in New Zealand.

It is hoped that the organisation will have a circuit at least as large as that of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union, and that it will ultimately cover the whole of New Zealand. Graduates ot Canterbury College have taken an interest in the proposal and some of them intend to speak at the general meeting to-morrow night. It is hoped by persons who have already joined the union that a graduate of Canterbury College will accept the oilice of first president of the new organisation. A provisional executive will be appointed at the meeting and a general discussion will take place on hours, conditions and wages. This will be a preliminary to the formal drafting of claims for an award.