The One Big Union

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 100, 6 April 1922, Page 3

The One Big Union

P. AND T. OFFICERS’ DECISION

AFFILIATION WITH ALLIANCE,

SOME RESIGNATIONS POSSIBLI

Wellington, April 5. Officers of the P. and T. Association indicated that they regarded the majority in the ballot as absolutely decisive. They said that it disposed entirely ol certain questions that had been raised during the taking of the ballot, such as the right ol junior members to vote. The junior members had voted, but their votes had not made the decision, which obviously represented the considered will or the great majority of the members of the fust and Telegraph service. The steps necessary to complete affiliation with the Alliance of Labour would now be taken without delay. One immediate effect of the decision may be the resignation of a substantial number of the present members of the Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association. A “Dominion” reporter was informed that many of the men who voted against affiliation feel strongly on the subject. They are not prepared to link themselves with an organisation that they regard as the lineal successor of the old * lied” Federation. They believe that the interests of the sen ice and the interests of the public are both opposed to the placing of the staff of an important State Department under the direction of the Alliance of Labour. The objectives of the Alliance of Labour were stated a few months ago by Mr. James Roberts, the secretary of the organisation. The alliance, said Mr. Roberts, really constituted ‘‘the one big union.” He referred to it as “the New Zealand Alliance of Labour, otherwise the 0.8. U. organised along the lines of class and industry,” and he quoted clause 2 of its objective as ! follow s:—

The collective ownership of the means of production and distribution and the control of the industries by the workers who operate them in the interests of the community.

Air. Roberts explained, further, that the organisation of the alliance provided “the machinery for the general strike, which is the bludgeon with which the One Big Union hopes to strike effectively upon society.” The organisations already affiliated to the Alliance of Labour include the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, the miners, the waterside workers, the seamen, the drivers, the tramway men. and the freezing workers. The affiliated membership covers over 40,000 workers.

The Postmaster-General (Hon. J. G. Coates) referred to the ballot in Christchurch a few days ago. “What would be the position if the ballot resulted in favour of the One Big Union?” ho said. “It would mean that the activities of a large public service such as the Post and Telegraph Department might lie to some extent interfered with by the officials of a Labour organisation in the event of trouble arising from the movement that is taking place. I feel quite confident there are a sufficient number of thoroughly loyal officers to enable us to carry on the service.

“The proposal of the Post and Telegraph tv) join up with one big union is one that the people of this country will never agree to, and I believe it to be a very serious mistake. From a Post and Telegraph point of view that is not the most serious aspect of the question. We all know that officers are pledged to secrecy, and I am pleased to say that up to the present the service can be relied upon to maintain that oath ; but what if the Officers’ Association was part and parcel of one big union? Could the Government and Administration rely upon each officer in the event of any extreme action on the part of the Federation of -Labour?” A SOUTH CANTERBURY PROTEST. Timaru, April 5. A meeting of the Executive of the South Canterbury Employers’ Association resolved: —“That the association emphatically protests against the P. and T. Officers’ Association joining the Alliance of Labour and calls upon Cabinet to prohibit same.” PRESS OPINION. The general public who “pay the piper’’ will be interested to learn this morning that a majority of their employees in the Post and Telegraph Service have decided to link up with the Alliance of Labour (says the “Dominion”). This means that officers of this Department of the State who are entrusted with the confidence of the people generally in matters relating to me transmission of all postal and telegraphic communication have thrown in their lot with the watersiders, the seamen, the miners, and other militant Labour organisations, and have come under the sway of the movement known as the One Big Union. Ao longer will the public be in a position to regard the Post and Telegraph Service as something aloof and independent ut outside influence, ft would be absurd to pretend that the absolute confidence in the traditionary secrecy of the service will be maintained where matters affecting industrial interests are concerned. How, for instance, could it be expected that an individual or a ffrm of employers would use the telegrahpic service in a matter affecting the Alliance of Labour when he would .know that the message might be read iu the ordinary routine of his work by an officer of the Department who was also an active member on the council of the Alliance of Labour? The position is preposterous. The members of the P. and T. Service —or a majority of them —have been led into placing themselves in a false situation. What they have to gain is difficult to see. What they stand to lose through their disregard of public opinion and the public interest is lelss obscure. *»