Mr Turley Protests

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1947, Page 5

Mr Turley Protests

Sir—Your heading to resolutions passed by the executive of the Westland Timber Industry Employees Industrial Union of Workers, and published in your issue of August 26, is, to say the least, entirely misleading. The resolutions did not contain any reference to strike ballot, but were against the proposed amendments, to the I.C. and A. Act, which excluding the strike ballot proposal, contains Nazi ideas of democracy. It would be interesting to know your reason for the heading given to the resolution— headings more appropriate to the resolution referred to would be “Nazi Legislation Opposed” or “Democracy must be Maintained.” •

Surely the duty of a free press should be to convey the true facts as to any particular event and not distort it in accordance with the particular whims of any particular editor. The world knows that editors as a class represent views, in 90 per cent, of the cases, reactionary in the extreme. T ~ . , For your information I would point out that the rules of my union provide for a secret ballot at all times when requested by the members, and in cases of stoppages in the timber industry .which are very rare, I could give instances and particulars where secret ballots were held before the stoppages took place. This, no doubt, will be almost unbelievable to one who sits in an editorial chair with its comfortable surroundings and knows nothing about the. environment and conditions under which timber workers exist. —Yours, etc., • F. TURLEY, Secretary, Westland Timber , ‘ r Workers’Union. Greymouth, August 29.

Mr Turley’s charge of “distortion” is completely, unfounded.. As the chief bone of contention in the I.C. and A. Act Amendment Bill is the. clause introducing compulsory - secret.< ballots on strike issues; the reporter (not the editor) - who -was .-responsible for the report of the timber workers’-resolu-tion headed it, “Timber Workers Opposed to Strike Ballot.” As the resolii-

tion itself was lacking in detail perhaps even Mr Turley, in his calmer moments, would forgive the reporter, if he really did err—and that is a matter of doubt—in drawing a natural conclusion. If the timber workers’ executive is not opposed to compulsory secret ballots, then it should have said so. The resolution passed states “that this meeting demands the withdrawal of the proposed amendments. . ... ” That is an all-embracing resolution. The secret ballot clause is one of the proposed amendments; indeed, in the eyes of the Labour Federation Council, it is apparently the most important. If the timber workers’ union executive is not opposed to it,, then to, what exactly is it opposed? Its resolution does not say specifically. Neither does Mr Turley. Perhaps, however, he may now feel disposed to explain, and also what exactly are the “Nazi ideas-of democracy” which, he alleges, are contained in the Bill. We agree with him that it is “the duty of a free press to give the true facts.” He will no doubt agree, in turn, that he has a duty to give the press the “true, facts.” It is worth remarking that so far the controversy over the strike issue has been notable for the absence of a clear-cut statement by the’ protesting union executives of their reasons for objecting to, the introduction of a thoroughly democratic procedure.

Mr Turley, introducing an unnecessary personal note, expresses his dislike of newspaper editors. They sit, he says, in “comfortable surroundings.” As a class, however, they do not sit in comfortable, high-powered cars. In addition, it is undoubtedly true that the majority, of' editorial offices are not as comfortable as. that -occupied:by Mr Turley. What is more, it is not unlikely that many editors have had as much experience, of the “environment . and conditions” of manual labour as is usual in the trade union secretary class.—Editor, Evening Star. ■' •