THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 18138, 30 November 1922, Page 4

THE LABOR MOVEMENT

[By Veteran.] Brief contributions on matters with reference to the Labor Movement are invited. IS IT A STRIKE? The seamen—or at least a goodly number of them—maintain that they are not' on strike. They sny that they have only done what the award allows them to do—that is, to give twenty-four hours’ notice at their homo port, fiut the award does not say that the seamen or firemen oan take concerted action and give notice in a body or on one ship after another ns' they arrive in port. The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1908, makes it very clear what constitutes a strike or lock-out. Part I, sections 3 to 6. defines the position very clearly.. There is nothing to debar cny worker, if he, is not. satisfied 1 with his wages or other conditions. from leaving his employment on giving duo notice; but the law makes it very clear that there must be no such thing as concerted action for (ho purpose of holding up any industry. No one can •deny that there has been concerted action in this case. Apart from the question of the legality of the seamen’s action, it should bo remembered that a strike (legal or otherwise) can do no good unless it has tho sympathy of the general public behind it; and that the, seamen have not the public behind' them in this case is very evident.

Most people are inconvenienced’ because of the general hold' up of sea traffic. At the present time there are numbers of would-be travellers held up in every port at considerable loss, financially and otherwise. From tho Labor point of view the seamen could not have chosen a more effective method of damaging Labor’s chances of success at the polls on December 7. The writer of ‘Labor Notes’ in the Auckland ‘Star’ says: “Speaking with one of the men affected, he put the position very forcibly from his own viewpoint. Ho said: ‘ \Ve never sought the court; we were dragged there by the ship owners. Our wage rates were cut down by a reduction with which wo could not find' much fault because it was similar to what other workers wore to be 'reduced by the court; but in addition other clauses, under which we had worked for years, wore also cut into, so wo, are showing our opposition to the new award by refusing to work under it.' I do not forget that these men, who are accused' of interfering with our comfort and prosperity at the present lime, are the same, men who, loss than eight years ago, whentho nation was in peril, cheerfully risked the danger of travelling without lights,submarine warfare, and floating mines, to keep our foodstuffs going; and lam not going to criticise their right to maintain their conditions in time of peace, so' long as they do it in a constitutional way. As Ecclesiastes, the preacher, has it: ‘To everything there is a season and; a time to every purpose under the heaven . . . a time to laugh and a time te> weep,’ etc. He might have added: ‘There is a. time to leave off work, hut is it when there are men waiting to step into your job? 1 ”

LABOR PROSPECTS ON DECEMBER 7. I am often -asked l what chance the Labor Partv baa of doubling tho number of its members in tho House at this election, as tho British Labor Party lias done. That is very hard: to say. 1 hear on fairly good authority that there is every chance of Mr S. CL Smith (New Plymouth) being re-elected, also AH’ Vc-itch (Wanganui). . I have also heard that there is every prospect of Labor winning tho Invercargill seat. The rest of the dominion I know very little about. Locally, the Labor Party seems to bo confident of Mr Altinro’s re-election, also that Air Stephens will secure the Chalmers seat. The other three seats will be much harder to win—because of tho changes of the electoral boundaries for one thing and the popularity and standing of the three members who bold' the seats at present. Altogether, I think tho party will ho lucky it they get two out of the five local seats.

*## » ■ AMERICA’S SICKNESS BILL. ' The final report of the Commission on Industrial Relations 'says a recent number of tho ‘ Cigar Makers’ Official Journal of America’) gives a number of startling statements, lor the first time on the authority and endorsement of a Government Commission. The report states that accidents, to which attention has recently been given, cause only one-seventh as much destitution as does sickness. The average loss of each of the thirty odd million wage-earners in the United States through sickness is nine days -a. year, which, at an average wage of 2dol a day, makes a wage, loss of over 590,G00,000d0L This, with the medical care cost, of 180.000. makes the total annual sick bill over 680,000,000d01. Sickness among wage-earners is due to insufficient diet, bad housing, inadequate clothing, and unfavorable surroundings in the homo. The majority of wage-earners do not. receive sufficient wages to provide for proper living conditions. The Commission docs not anticipate that wages will be raised 1 enough at cnee to permit proper living conditions and adequate medical attention, and therefore proposes a system of sickness insurance. # # * * CO-OPERATIVE CLOTHING FACTORIES, A unique development of the co-opera-tive idea, has found 1 expression in. Saxony in tho formation of the Saxon Clothing Works. This concern has been started with a capitalisation of 10,000,000 marks, of which 8,000,000 has been paid in by the wholesale purchasing department of tlie German Consumers’ League, 1,000,000 by the co-operative of the tailors, and 1.000. by the State bank of Saxony. 'lbis company will take over the State Clothing Factory that in the days of the monarchy supplied all the military clothes, uniforms, and shoes for the Saxon contingent of the German army. The plant is large, and is said to have excellent tailoring and shoe shops. It will he renovated. Tho Saxon Clothing Works has obtained a lease of the premises for thirty years, and has bought the machinery, administrative apparatus, tools, and other inventory outright. The -works will be run on a non-profit-making basis, and will sell directly from factory to consumer without a middleman. —Exchange. » * # » A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR. Air J. Dooley, ex-Labor Premier of New South Wales, is at present visiting the but whether lie will come this far south I have not heard? He arranged to meet the local Labor officials ut the Auckland Trades Hall on November 22 to have a friendly talk over Labor matters in general. _ I have not seen any report of that meeting yet. Before his entry into politics, some fifteen years ago, Mr Dooley was a tailor by trade in Queensland. From there he gravitated; to New South Wales, and 1 after a term of 'apprenticeship as a private member of the Legislature of tho Mother State, ho succeeded' the late Air J. Storey as leader of tho Labor Party, end consequently Premier. During the present year his Government was defeated by a narrow majority on a want of confidence motion moved by Sir George Fuller, who formed a Government, which is in office at the present time.