SHIPPING AND UNION DUES.

Evening Star, Issue 22033, 20 May 1935, Page 10

SHIPPING AND UNION DUES.

/ * m ' f r TO Tm* BDITOK. . ' ,Sir a — <! :Di»gu*tcd’s ” letter gives a ' fair 'idea of th© methods by the workers’ paid officials. • The secretarial work of the Cook# and Stewards Union in 1 Wellington is costing 4 the £35 a week in-wages alone, the work being done by-two men and a lady typiste.' 'The origin of • unions .was Srompted by a righteous desire for freeotn and justice,'but unionism has.de>.,»«loped : tyrannv and injustice, reminding one of the ‘secretary referred to in a novel by Upton Sinclair, who tilts ms i chair back, 1 rests .'hia feet on his desk, and aaya: “ To hell with the workers. ,What a' tragedy for “Ex-service Man'a Wife ” Her husband, when trying to better his conditions, but .unable to accede, to a demand for l«»t for weeks the' miserable pittance that they had been existing on. the men' on the Misheno who acceded to the secretary’s demands interviewed the president of the union, prior to the ship laying up, calling his attention, to -the amendment now a rule in their : lbook». They were instrncied to apply •by letter to the secretary. , Ihia they did/'but up to the present their letter ■has not been acknowledged. . i l “ Disgused ” says in his letter that the providers manager stated, when at ■ Port Chalmers that the, Union' Company, had been approached by -the • at Wellington in reference to<., Disgusted’a ” signing on the Maheno. 10 a degree that is correct, hut it'is not a fact; I was present at the time, and ' .what the provider® manager did say waa that the secretary of the union told him that not a.union man would leave , (Wellington to join the Maheno if Disgusted’V. joined. Yet “ Disgusted was a fully-paid-up and a financial member of the union. , „ •It was further intimated to- Disgusted” that the. union members on . Hi® Maknra and the Matama were prepared to! leave their ships if .Disgusted ” signed on the Maheno. Since then I have met a member of the union ’ who' was on the Makura at that time, and he has assured me that the men.on. the Makura knew absolutely nothing of the jnatter; also, when word reached the Marama that “Disgusted was hawing trouble with the secretary union members wrote to Disgusted offering him money to fight 1 the case in like to quote the heading of 1 some letters that hare appeared lately Jn- the 1 Star,’ which was Since Awards Went Out.’ I, forone am now prompted to sky ‘ Since Awards Came .m, c M , K>y