WATERSIDERS & RED FEDS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 6 May 1914, Page 3

WATERSIDERS & RED FEDS

"WILL NOT RECOGNISE IN ANY SHAPE."

A correspondent of the Dominion, telegraphing from Westport on Monday night, says :

A meeting of "West-port waterside workers was held to-night, when a circular letter was received from the conference of arbitration unions, held in Wellington last month, commending the following resolution to the Waterside Union's earnest consideration:

"That for the purpose of solidifying the forces of Labor, and in order to more successfully protect the mutual interests of organised labor, this conference urges upon the United Federation of Labor the necessity of calling a conference of all unions for July 7, with the object of deciding upon a common line of action' politically, and acting (if so deciding) in the direction of, as soon as practicable thereafter, becoming affiliated with the Australian Labor Federation."

After lengtny consideration, the Westport Waterside Workers' Union resolved to reply as follows: "Having received yours of April 18, and given our most earnest consideration to the matter contained therein, we wish to reply that after viewing and reviewing the circumstances leading up to the calling of that confeernce, we have concluded that the whole scheme was initiated, organised, and controlled by the Federation of Labor, also that the procedure of business was conducted by that body. We are further of opinion that the Federation of Labor i« inseparable from the Social Denv«e,-.«i.e Party. The said parties, judged by their previous actions and utterances, cannot possibly have any sympathy with this or any other general arbitration xmion. A glance down the report contained in the Maoriland Worker (which paper is the official organ of the Federation, and also the paper that you accepted during the sitting of the conference as your official organ) will go to prove that our conclusions are not wide of the mark. For instance, you have at your conference 39 delegates, representing 70 different unions, of which Mr P. Hickey, secretary of the Federation, represented no less than six, while Mr Parry, a former vice-president, and now an organiser for that party, was there representing four different unions. You had also amongst your most prominent participators such social-federationists as "Banjo" Hunter, M. Laracy, P. Fraser, W. T. Mills, G. G. Farland, and G. Bruce. And, finally, the circular, which you sent to us, was printed at the Maoriland Worker office. While being in absolute sympathy with any and every genuine movement having for its object the betterment of the workers, and being also thoroughly aware of the necessity for the consolidation of Labor, nevertheless, we desire to point out that the resolution which you have commended to us for consideration must necessarily, if entertained, identify our union with the combined parties of the Federation of Labor and the Social Democratic Party, which parties, under no circumstances whatever, would we have any dealings with, nor will we recognise thexn in any shape or form. Further, wo feel it our duty to express regret that you—notwithstanding the protesting reoolutions coming from various Arbitration unions—did, in the nsme or Arbitration, either willingly or unwillingly permit the different organisations, which you represented, to he used as a decoy by the' Federation, whereby that organisation hoped to have made a back-door entrance amongst the rank and file, and to have once again obtained predominance over the earnings of a "great majority of workers in this country. A Federation that stands for destmction and not construction, that spreads disunity rather than unity, whose most effective weapon is intimidation and abuse, and whose ultimate aim is to the upsetting of all existing social and political rghts should be, in our opinion, considered only as a memory of the bitter past." (Signed) A. Vincent, president; G. Hawes, secretary."