A HAPPY ASSOCIATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 117, 28 May 1901, Page 3

A HAPPY ASSOCIATION.

By T^graph. —Press Association. Auckland, last night,

Mr J. A. Frostick, President of the Federated Boot Manufacturers’ Association, was entertained on Saturday night by the Auckland boot manufacturers. Mr Frostick, replying to tho toast of his health, said the boot- manufacturers of Now Zealand are now united from Auckland to the Bluff. The Federated Manufacturers’Association represented 95 per cent of the boot trade of Now Zealand, which benefited ten thousand men, women, and children. Ten years ago tho trade was in a state of chaos ; now manufacturers, instead of cutting were bound together by ties of common interests, and the Union Association was not a fighting •machine as against the men. Employers had no right to take advantage of tho poverty or impecuniosity of any of their men. The men had rights which must be respected. He ventured to predict that within the next two years tho men’s earnings would bo increased 50 per cent. All they asked of the men was to do their best for their employers while at work, and bo thoroughly competent in thenbusiness. They had a perfect right to their union. The adoption of the log was tho best thing that could have happened for both master and man. The . award was clear, and unmistakable. Thp manufacturer could now manage his own business on any system he pleased, and use any machinery he pleased, provided he paid a minimum wage of 42s for 48 hours’ work, and complied with the award re hours of labor. If manufacturers had to give preference to unionists, unionists had also to give preference to manufacturers of the Association.