BRITISH WORKERS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 182, 30 April 1941, Page 8

BRITISH WORKERS

Message To Comrades

In Dominion

MR. HOLMES’S ADDRESS

Determined To Endure Till Victory Is Won

The British people, from the highest to the lowest in the land, were in good heart and were determined to endure till victory was won, declared Mr. William Holmes, past-president of lhe British Trades Union Congress, in addressing a meeting of trade unionists in the Wellington Trades Hall last night. Great, new factories were coming rapidly into production, Mr. Holmes said, and Britain would soon reach parity with the enemy in the air and get beyond that, too.

The president of the Wellington Trades Council, Mr. F. P. Walsh, presided, and also on the platform were: The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser; the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb; the Minister of National Service. Mr. Semple; the Minister of Public Works. Mr. Armstrong: and the national president of the Federation of Labour, Mr. A. McLagan.

Mr. Walsh assured Mr. Holmes that the trade union movement of the Dominion was not unmindful of the privations and sufferings the people of tlie Old Country were undergoing, and was under no illusions that all that was sacred to the movement would be lost to this generation if the foul forces of aggression were not destroyed. Prime Minister’s Welcome.

. "We know of your work for the toiling masses of Grekt Britain and particularly for the agricultural workers," the Prime Minister said to Mr. Holmes. "Above all we welcome you as au ambassador not only of the great trades union movement but specially as a messenger of the people from' Land’s End to John o’ Groats, who are courageously facing up to the cruellest attacks in the front trenches of the war for democracy.” < “As a fraternal delegate of the general council of the Trades Union Congress I bring you a message of goodwill from 5,000,000 British trade unionists,” said Mr. Holmes, who was received with applause. “They have charged me to deliver to you their pledge of loyalty to the common cause which engages the total energies of the British Commonwealth of Nations. They have asked me to tell you that their assurance of victory is strength? ened by the' knowledge that you are with them in the struggle. We are confident of the issue. . . . We are fighting for our birthright of freedom now without respite by day and night. We are all in the front line now.” Mr. Holmes said, that when he left Britain night attacks had been continuous for six months. They had caused, grievous loss of life and injury and much destruction of property, but they had not in any way weakened the morale of the ordinary working folk There were. no Quislings among the trade unionists of England. The British .people naturally were suffering some inconveniences and shortage of supplies. They were tightening their belts because they were organizing for a war which they meant to win no matter what sacrifices they had to make. Labour’s Part in War. The part played by Labour members of the Ministry and the way in which the trade union and Labour movements were associated in the conduct of the war were outlined by Mr. Holmes. Trade unionists, he said, were in this war not passively but as active agents of an organization and a movement which had accepted the challenge of Hitlerism and was determined to carry on the struggle till Hitler was destroyed. Trade union leaders had not forgotten the needs of their members, and the interests of the workers had never been so carefully guarded as during the present crisis. Increases in wages retailing nearly £3,000,009 a week had been made. They made up as far as possible for the increase in the cost ol living, but in some cases they replesented a substantial improvement. Wages of agricultural workers had been increased oh the ground that those who produced the munitions of life should be assured at least as good a return for their services as those who produced the munitions of death. Nowhere had there been a compulsory extension of the working week, said Mr. Holmes, and. factory legislation' restricting the hours of women and young persons was still in force. It could only be relaxed by permission of the factory inspectors after consultation with the unions concerned and the Government. Source of Power. "It is true that in some eases our liberties have been curtailed,” said Mr. Holmes, "but these have been imposed by the consent of the unions. In certain industries men cannot leave to take up work elsewhere without the consent of the Minister of Labour, but they have the right of appeal to a committee on which trade union representatives sit.” The trade unions had been a source of power to the workers, the GovernSnent and the nation as a whole. The love of freedom and solidarity of the working class were a strong foundation on which national unity had been established. They would carry on this struggle to the bitter end, knowing that the (hopes of all mankind were bound up in their victory and the enemy s defeat. "We thank you and all the people ot New Zealand for the splendid support you have already given to the commonwealth's cause,” Mr. Holmes said. ‘‘All sections of the British people feel deeply grateful to you all.” Courage of British People.

Tlie meeting carried unanimously a motion moved by Mr. McLagan and seconded by Mr. McKeen, M.P., thanking Mr. Holmes for bis address, congratulating the people of Great Britain, and particularly the working men ami women, for the determination which they are displaying in the titanic fight, and pledging the workers of the Dominion to do all within their power to assist in defeating the aggressor nations.