BANKS’ UNION

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 200, 24 July 1936, Page 2

BANKS’ UNION

UNANIMITY REVEALED. ACTION IN CHRISTCHURCH. CHRISTCHURCH, July 22. Rank officers in Christchurch have decided to form an industrial union, and to apply for registration under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. This decision was reached after the case for the formation of a union had been explained to a special meeting by Hon. G. It. Hunter, M.L.C., and alternative proposals submitted by a representative of the Bank Officers’ Guild had been rejected. The meeting was held in the National Bank Chamber , and was attended by about 350 bank officers, almost the full staffs of the Christchurch banks being present. Mr G. G. Littlejohn, manager of the National Bank, was voted to the chair, and introduced Mr Hunter.

At the outset of the meeting some hostility to the formation of a union was expressed, and a representative of the guild submitted alternative proposals, but after Mr Hunter had explained the position fully and answered a. large number of questions much of the opposition was withdrawn and the decision to form a union was made by an overwhelming majority. Mr Hunter told the meeting that it was the wish of the Minister of Labour (Hon. H. T. Armstrong) that the bank officers should form a union, and that already applications had been niado to the Minister from different parts of the Dominion for the formation of unions. The position of the guild was fully discussed, and it was agreed that it was in the interests of the bank officers that they, should meet the wishes of the Minister and secure the benefits of the new industrial legislation by forming a union. It was stated that the meeting was the largest gathering of bank officers that has been held in Christchurch.