DOMINION SUPPORT FOR TRADE UNIONS OF WEST

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1948, Page 4

DOMINION SUPPORT FOR TRADE UNIONS OF WEST

[SPECIAL TO STAR] WELLINGTON, This Day.

The New Zealand Federation of Labour will support the British and American trade unions and those of the Marshall Aid countries if the threatened split develops with Russia and her satellite trade union groups at the conference of the World Federation of Trade Unions at Brussels next February. This policy was indicated in a statement issued by the New Zealand Federation.

Some 75,000,000 workers who paid affiliation fees to the world federation would be watching with, concern the future of the organisation, said the statement. The world federation was an international trade union organisation which could do useful work if the nations could find some solution to their political differences. In recent months trade unions tended to reflect the policies of their Governments. Differences also existed in the World Federation of Trade Unions regarding the conceptions and functions of trade unionism under dictatorships and under democracy. In British countries the trade unions existed before the coming of political parties claiming to represent the workers. In Europe the political parties preceded the trade unions. , The New Zealand federation would continue to work to maintain and further international democratic trade union unity on the basis of a policy of improving the minimum standards of the working people of all countries as opportunity and circumstances warranted. Internationa* trade union unity was an essential condition in the struggle for peace. Economic reconstruction was a matter of concern to trade unionists in Europe and elsewhere. It was more than a bread and butter question in some countries —it was a matter oi life and death. It was clear that opposition to its success would lead to untold suffering. The New Zealand Federation of Labour supported the principle of providing aid to Europe.