W.F.T.U. CONGRESS: OFFICIALS DISAGREE ON DATE

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 October 1948, Page 6

W.F.T.U. CONGRESS: OFFICIALS DISAGREE ON DATE

LONDON, October 14. Reutei' says that M. Louis Saillant, secretary-general of the World Fed.eration of Trade Unions, said in Paris that the executive committee of the federation had decided to postpone its second congress, but the president of the federation (Mr Arthur Deakin) said in London that he was puzzled by the announcement and that the executive committee had made no such decision.

It was decided last May that the congress should be held not later than the second week of December. M. Saillant, who was speaking to the annual congress of the French General Confederation of Labour, said that the decision to postpone the congress was a result of concessions that sometimes had to be made to maintain the federation’s unity. Mr Deakin said that when the executive met in Paris in September several dates were suggested, but it was never found possible to arrange anything. Asked if failure to reach agreement was connected with his denunciation of the federation at the British Trades Union Congress in September, Mr Deakin said: “Yes, certainly. The whole thing is in the melting pot.”