MANY NEW UNIONS BEING FORMED

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 12

MANY NEW UNIONS BEING FORMED

Clerical Workers Active JNE REGISTRATION UNDER TRADE UNIONS ACT A line crop of new unions promises to be one of tlie first growths of the legislative fertility of the Labour Government. For clerical workers alone one root organisation has already been formed, but it promises to produce many branches before very long. The Clerical Workers Union is formed and registered to cover all clerks up to a certain salary limit, but, because of their existence and functions, undertakings have been given that their members need not necessarily be combined in tlie general clerical union to the Bank Officers Guild, tlie Insurance Officers Guild and the Shipping Officers Guild. Under this arrangement applications for registration as industrial unions have been made by tlie Insurance Officers and Shipping Officers Guilds. In addition clerks employed by oil companies have applied to be registered as a separate union under the I.C. and A. Act. The law clerks have taken similar action, both at Wellington and at Dunedin. A meeting of law clerks was held at Auckland, but the result, of it has not been published. Wellington secretaries have also had a meeting to consider whether they will form a separate union. Meantime a new turn has been given events by the clerical workers in stock and station firms, who have formed a separate union and have had it registered under the Trades Union Act instead of the I.C. and A. Act. They are now proceeding to complete what they hold to be a favourable agreement with the employers. Difference In Procedure. The Trades Union Act gives any seven persons the right to form and register an organisation for regulating the relations between employees aud employers upon taking certain formal steps, this registration being made by the Registrar of Friendly Societies. The law for registering a trade union in this way lias seldom been acted upon, the nearest approach to trade unions on the present register being working men's clubs. Under the I.C. and A. Act, 1925, an organisation of not fewer than three employers or 15 employees "lawfully associated for the purpose of protecting their interests in that industry or related industries” may make application for registration as an industrial union. Under tlie- amending legislation of this session it is provided that where there is, after the passing of the legislation, an application made for registration by any society as an industrial union' of workers or employers and there is in the same industrial district an existing union registered in respect of the same industry or there is in the same industrial district an existing industral union registered on or before May I, 1936, to which the members of the applicant society could properly be long, the registrar has no power to grant registration except witli the concurrence of the Minister of Labour. The registrar in this case is the Registrar of Industrial Unions under the Labour Department.

The position now is that a clerical workers’ uijlott has been registered and an understanding has been reached that: insurance, shipping and bank officers may register their guilds as unions if they desire. Other applications have been niafle, like those of the oil company clerks and the legal clerks, and these will have to be considered from Hie point of view of whether the general clerical workers’ union is one lo which t hese clerks “may properly belong,” or whether it is more advisable that there should be separate unions. The New Union. The AVellington Stock and Stntiou Agents Clerical Employees’ Trade Union, however, has been registered by the Registrar of Friendly .Societies under the Trades Union Act, there being no necessity under this act. to secure Hie concurrence of the Minister, AVliereas under tlie I.C. anfl A. Act industrial agreements or awards are negotiated by representatives of bo'h sides in the Conciliation Council before a conciliation commissioner or decided after tlie hearing of evidence and argu'ment by both sides before the Arbitration Court, under the Trades Union Act agreements a' : lo conditions of employment are negotiated privately, and when an agreement is arrived at this is registered and becomes a binding but private contract enforceable on both parties. The Stock and Station Agents Clerical Employees’ Trade Union, having been granted registration, will now take steps to complete au agreement with the employers. One Jias been drawn up and opportunities of perusing it have been provided members. A formal meeting, however, will be necessary for the confirmation of the agreement by members, but it is stated that the terms are qtiite satisfactory to the majority and that it will certainly be accepted as tlie agreement for the next year. Six of the eight stock and station companies in AVellington are said to have signed the agreement, so that ! t will become effective as soon as Hie union accepts it, as well as most of those in other parts of the AVellington industrial district, such as Hawke's Bay. The agreement, it. is believed, provides for higher wages in some Other New Unions. Apart from new clerical unions, however, several others are in process of formation. A union for domestics is gaining considerable support, and one has been proposed for messengers wtio serve the needs of members in Parliamentary Buildings. There is even a suggestion of a union for some clerical i I ployees of the Government. t’lie last annual statutory return of associations and unions registered under the LC. and A. Act shows that there were 404 unions with a total membership of 74.31)1. an increase of 2503 on the previous year.

INDUSTRIAL UNITY National Organisation Suggested By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, May 15. AVays and means of bringing about greater unity among the industrial labour groups in the Dominion were discussed by tlie Auckland Trades and Labour Council, and it was decided to endorse a suggestion that the Trades and Labour Federation convene a conference with the object of inducing the principal sections of the indus-

trial community to compose their differences and form one national organisation. This would mean t he unifying of the two main sections, the Alliance of Labour and the Trades and Labour Federation. FREEZING Strong Organisation in South Island By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, May 15. Representatives of all freezing workers in tlie South Island districts will be called together at a conference to b e hold shortly to discuss a proposal to form a South Island, organisation and to co-opcrate in »in attempt to secure a South Island award for next season. It was stated to-day that the reorganisation of the Canterbury Freezing AVorkers’ Union which took place this season was remarkably successful. At the beginning of the season the union was practically non-existent, but to-day It was in a strong position and could count on the support of 1500 men. The reorganisation of freezing workers had been more successful in Canterbury than in other parts of New Zealand, but throughout the Dominion the men were more closely united than they had been for some years.