Brooklyn's Protest

Maoriland Worker, Volume 4, Issue 147, 26 November 1913, Page 6

Brooklyn's Protest

A well-attended; meeting of strikers and friends was held at. Brooklyn on Friday evening, ■ November 14th, Mr. Tom Reynolds, of tho Waterside Workers occupying the chair. Hβ gave a, brief outline of .the origin of the dispute now in progress, < and said that the meeting was called to protest against the imprisonment of the strike leaders. Mr. Stevens (Drivers* Union) gave an emphatic denial to: the statements yuglished in the press that the drivers were forming an Arbitration. Union and going hack to work. Some days ago they had carried a resolution to the effect that they would not carry scab material from the wharf. The employers had approached the men individually and tried to intimidate thie men into handling material from the wharf ,so they had •Tedded to forthwith cease work. The opponents of the workers had always asked for a eeoret ballot. A secret ballot had been taken that rooming, which resulted in 287 voting in favoT of continuing the strike, Jls a-jainit, and 5 informal. It was amusing to see the way those 35 had endeavored to disguise their handwriting. This result was a reply to those.who considered that the secret ballot would stop strikes. The drivers were solid to a man. They realised the necessity for fighting .the employers at this juncture, because they knew of the slavery which would result if the employers __ won through this straggler' He appealed to the men to stand solid.

Mr. Curtice, President;, W.W.TJ. -mt-l lined the men's case. All that he ecu Id say was that the me,n were more determined than ever to go on with the fight. The jailiag of their leaders would not deter them in their efforts in the leart. Mr." George Bruce, Assistant-Secre-tary. W.W.U., said that he-was on© of Massey's " foreigners," having oome from the same island as Mr. Massey himself. It was strange but true that all their Governors had been "foreigners," that when they wanted a manager for the Railways they imported another foreigner, and that practically every man in any responsible position even in business"firms,in New Zealand were also imported foreigners. He wanted to tell them that this was a fight for the right of organisation. They knew what the Arbitratino Court had done for them and they were not going back under conditions of slavery snch as that would impose. He asked thorn to stand solid in this fight., .. . • ~_...;■ Mr. Tom Barker, I.W.W. organise;, of Auckland, one of the seditious per-_ sons who had been ameted, next addressed the meeting. He was given three rousing cheers on risfng to ■■speak. Ha said the , ! , © were more men on strike in Auckland to-day than had been the previous day, and that there were more men on strike the previous day than bad been three days'before. Union after union was joining hands with them. Mr. Golclie, President of the Employers' Association had resigned his position, the employers were fighting one another because tbey foresaw nrination if the strike was not settled soon. In Auckland'they did not fight the specials —they simply fought them with folded arms." Tb© strike was the finest example of solidarity ever displayed in Now Zealand. They, were bound to win. 1-1 o was a firm believer in the .creneTal strike because he knew full well that when all the workers ceased work the capitalist system became., impossible in a working.'sense.,, * . ', _ -~. Mr. Kerr, organiser; N.Z; Sheaffra" Association and President Canterbury Laborers' Union sai4 he brought them greetings foom the' worker's of -theWairarh'pa. ."He : could assurf* them fhat the-workers there were in. whok-beartr. Ed sympathy with the strikers. The other <?ay com« of the armed thugs returned to. Maratcrton and the little children stoned them and they wore shunned as if afflicted with a pestilential disease. At one shop an order had lied b<?«m given for batons for the specials. The boss'tola , ! the apprentice boy' to turn them. The boy tuned about three and began -to wonder what they were. He heldr.one above his head and ehook it. He then said, "Say, bos?, whst are .these for?" "They,are batons for the special constables." The lad flung the baton from one- end of the chop to the other and said he would turn no more of thorn. TJw* !xiss said, "Very well, if yon don't «lo th* work yon tan go," Tn*> lad said. "All right, I , * g0. ,. On hie way out he told the 409tn» -fMvmv wtoni w«ni in »r\A told

all the other men that the lafl iad been saokod for refuging to turn batons for the specials. The men would not tolera.te this. They went to the employer andl told him that if he stopped that boy they would-stop the shop.. The employer said, "Very well, then, throw the order out." (Cheers.) The order had then been token to another man —an appropriate individual an undertaker. He did the job and he has been sorry for it ever since. He got th&e lovely plate glass windowe put in recently costing about £20 each. After he had finished the order he found the word "scab" scratched deeply on these wiih a. diamond. Hβ 'bad seen in the paper that scab specials; had never been at. Brooklyn. This was a downright, lie. He had been in Brooklyn the- previous day, and had in fact, got into conversation with some of them. These men had admitted that tlhey had been 'brought Ibqre wndier false pretences. Mr. Allen, acting-editor, "Maoriland Worker, ,, said he was President of the Auckland General Laborers' Union. Up there the employers had defeated them and forced them back under the Arbitration Court. About two months ago he had been one of the assessors of the union to the Arbitration Court getting their agreement fiwdi up, but he was proud of the fact that when the- watersiders and the miners struck, and the call for a.general strike went forth the membere.of his union, knowing of the penalties attached, came out to a man in solidarity with their brothers. Hβ, too, wa* one of the foreigners, having been induced to come here by literature issued by he Government and because relatives of his were in business in Auckland. Thirty years ego, Wβ uncle, Christopher HoHoway, had brough members of the Agricultural Laborers' Union out to New Zealand to. get better conditions than they had been able to win e.t home under the generalship of •Joseph Arch. Hβ did not care .whether tie men were Jailed for sedition or not—that was a minor fact. It was an attempt to kill the strike by imprisoning the leaders. Some people Had said that strikes were no good, but he had been in England with Tom Mann during the big transport strike, cadi in Liverpool alone, where they had their Bloody Sunday, when men, women 1 and children were batoned, the transport,strike had compelled the.employers to pay £22,000 more in wages to the loweefcjpaid' workers in England. During 1910 end 1911 tie strikes i» England had forced over four and a-half millions from the employers in wages per year as Increases to their workers. However, this strike was not for higher wages or less hours —it was a fight against victimisation. It was a fight for them to live as men and women and not-to be mereoogs in a machine for producing profit for other people. It w#s a strike to demonstrate their manhood. They would win, because already the country press were beginning to tell the farmers that they were "being .mad© eatspaws of by, the shipping companies, and wheni the fanners realised this and went back to their homes the shipping companies w«tald have to give in. - *j Mr Farland, secretary of the W.W.U. moved a resolution, "That this meeting of Brooklyn Citizens protest against the unnecessary jailing of .Messrs. Semple, Young, Holland,/ Fraser; and Bailey on charges of sedition." Hβ pointed out that Larkin had been released, and that though the.ipreee had told them the Dublin strike was collapsing, more mem had come out on the waterfront, Dublin Harbor had been tied up, and the Government had climbed down and ordered the release of Larkin. Even the Ministerial papers had said that sedition' was an obsolete charge. Men recognised that the sedition laws were a relic of feudalism. Of course, by arresting the leaders it was attempted to kill the strike, but there were • thousands «f men to take their places. The resolution was carried unanimously.