DEREGISTERED UNION

Evening Star, Issue 25070, 11 January 1944, Page 2

DEREGISTERED UNION

GENERAL MEETING TO-NIGHT GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF WIELDING BIG STICK (P.A.) AUCKLAND, January 11. " The responsibility for enforcing the drivers' award, which will continue to operate beyond the 25-mile Auckland limit, will fall on. the Labour Department, following- the deregistration of the union," said Mr L. G. Matthews, secretary of the union, to-day. "■Fifteen hundred members are outside the restricted area." The whole of the northern industrial district, operating under awards continuing in force, was seriously affected by the cancellation of the union's registration, said Mr Matthews. He added that it was clear that the action of the Minister, with the .concurrence! of Cabinet, had all the elements of "wielding the big stick," in that it c6ni-> pelled the workers to submerge their grievances and accept the dictates'of the employers, assisted by the Government. No matter what further action was taken, _ the drivers' organisation would continue to exist and thrive without the compulsory clauses of the Act. which were- being denied them. It was the intention of the union to have the whole organisation deregistered in order that a case could be stated under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act. Whether that action would be denied them remained to be seen. A general meeting of the union was being held to-night. The proprietors were to meet to-morrow afternoon.

Mr Matthews stated that the question of holding a* stop-work mass meeting of drivers one morning next week would be considered to-night. Mr N. B. Spencer, president of the Omnibus Proprietors' Association, said no communication had been received from the Government regarding the dispute. The matter was entirely one between the Minister and the union secretary.