Sympathy for Workshop Strikers

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 61, 12 March 1941, Page 6

Sympathy for Workshop Strikers

R.S.A. MEMBERS RESENT MINISTER’S ALLEGATIONS

P«r Press Association.

WELLINGTON, March 11,

At a largely-attended meeting of members of the Wellington branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners two speakers from the Hutt workshops addressed the gathering and the following resolution was carried:— * ‘ That this meeting sends fraternal greetings and sympathy to the workers in the Hutt workshops in their fight for the principle of a 40-hour week and we request the Government to pay railway workshop employees the same rates of pay. and employ them for the same hours as are enjoyed by workers in private enterprise. We pledge our support to the Hutt workshops employees in their struggle.”

It was decided to make a donation towards the fund for the dependents of strikers.

Approximately 200 returned soldier members of the strikers attended a meeting this afternoon, when exception was taken to the remarks of Mr. Semple that the trouble was caused by a few men “whose views were tinged with foreign philosophy.” It was pointed out that many of the men among the strikers had fought at Mons, Faschendale, Arras, Cambrai, Gallipoli, Palestine and Egypt and their loyalty of those days and their loyalty to-day had never been questioned. It was contended that the principle for which they were fighting was the same as that for which their sons who were fighting in Egypt and elsewhere to-day would uphold. It behoved Mr. Bemple to table his evidence before casting reflections on the loyalty of the men, said a statement issued after the meeting.