Big Labour Stonewall

Maoriland Worker, Volume 6, Issue 243, 13 October 1915, Page 5

Big Labour Stonewall

A FUSION MEASURE BLOCKED Sir Joseph's Constituent wants a Law Superseded Mr. Massey Introduces a Bill to Meet the Case

On Friday last, in the House of Representatives, the Primo Minister introduced the following harmless-looking little Bill;— FACTORIES AMENDMENT (No. 2) A. Bj)l intitulecl "An Act to amend the Factories Act, 1908." Be it enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand Jn Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:— 1. This Act may bo cited as the Factories Amendment Act, 1915 (No. 2), and shall form part of and be read together with tho Factories Act, ISOB. 2. Tho provisions of Section 22 of the Factories Act, 1908, as amended by the Factories A meiJ dment Act, 1910, are hereby modified in tho case of milk-condensipg factories to the extent that tho limitations as to overtime contained in paragraphs (b), (o), and (d) thereof need pot be observed during the period between "the first day of November in any year and the twenty-eighth day of Eebruafy in the next succeeding year. Mr. Massey introduced the Bill without making any speech whatever. Mr. McCombs objected, and said that any person introducing a Bill should explain what the Bill aimed at. The Prime Minister had nofc done that. Mr. Massey replied that a milk condensing factory had asked for this legislation, which was necessary in, the interests of the industry. BUT MR. MASSEY DID NOT TELL -"HE HOUSE THAT THE EFFECT OF THE BILL AYGULD BE TO ALLOW THE EMPLOYERS TO EMiPLQY YQUTHS AND WOMEN FOR ill} HOURS A DAY FOR SEVEN iDAYS A AVEEK.'

• Tho Minister's short explanation, jhoweyer, gave tho member fpr Lytteblon snfliqient time to turn up thp prinfcipa} Apt, which the, Bill proposed to (amend. The principal Aofc was passed for the protection.. of factory workers, and provided that women apd youths nnder 18 should work only 45 hours {per week, with a further provision that they might work overtime to tho extent of three hours, limited by a still further provision that they could only work overtime on two consecutive days land restricting overtime in thp aggregate tp IK} hours per annuni which in special circumstances might bo inkreasod to 120.

THE EXISTING LEGISLATION therefore allows the employer to work these employees 57 hours per week, ahis is surely more than ample. ', Mr. McCombs pointed out that what was now proposed' was to lift thp restriction in regard to the ■ consecutivo Bays, and also tho restriction in regard to the 120 hours per annum, as Well as lifting the restriction which provided for the half-holiday, the net result being that theso young people tnd women workers could be required to work 11-J hours a ,day, excluding fneal times, fpr seven (lays ppr week — totalling 78"" hnprs. ppr week, exclusive pi meal hours. Allowing threo hours for meals, only 9 hours would bq left for sleep aud dressing and recreation, with no Sunday and no half-holiday. (This was to apply in tho very hottest Jionths of tho year —from November 1 ill February 98. SIR JOSEPH DEFENDS MR. - A: MASSEY. Sir. Joseph Ward immediately sprang fo jiis. feet IS defence pf l]js colleague, &Ur. Massey, anpl thjt''re"p;re*Sr, feptation had been made to him by the people interested in this industry, apd that THE FACTORY AVAS SITUATED LN T HIS ELECTORATE. By. this time all the Labour members fn tbe Hquse, were awake to the full (significance of % Bil", apd Mr. If jnd--tnaxsh took the floor with an emphatic protest against sending s.uch legislation through at the end of the Sessjon without having tho Bill first *6nt to the Labour Bills Committee. The result was that the debate was equally kept going till the 5.30 adjournment. In the interim the Labour members tuadp elaborate preparations for' A SYSTEMATIC STONEWALL. On reassembling at 7-30, "tyr. Payne |ihdependent member for Grey Lynn) ook 'up the running, and mentioned iiiite a number of interesting amendments which he intended tp move lauso by clause as the Bill progressed. Mr. AVobb followed. Ha said he was J-ious to see local industries encou'riud, but not at the expense of the.

health and well-being of the rising generation. If an industry required for its continued existence the sacrifice of the workers, ifc would bo better that tho industry should be. wjped outIfc soon became apparent to tho National Government tVt a stonowall had developed, and Mr. Massey said that ho was prepared to stay there till Christmass, and S"r Joseph AA'ard gavo the Labour members to understand that ho wouldn't allow them to force the tho situation. Ho said the Government Was quite prepared to stay there and SEE THE BILL THROUGH. After some of the radical Liberal members had expressed their yiows jn, opposition tq tho Bill, the member for Lyttelton, in accordarico with tho stonewall arrangement, found ifc his turn to speak He congratulated tho National Government on- their .evident unanimity ft regard' to this Bill, hecause beth heads of the National Government had strongly suppprte,d, and had, to justify % prp•ppsajs of the B.iU. He generally twitted the, leader pf the, Liberal Party— the progressive element in the Fusion f3^verpi*4en.t—with having'been responsible, for the mOst reactionary piece of legislation which had been proposed in connection with our factory lawe. SIR JOSEPH GETS ANCRY. This caused Sir Joseph AA'ard to petulantly say that they could withdraw tha Bill for all ho caredThe member for Lyttelton accepted the challenge by jnr'ting him tq withdraw tho Bill.' Mr. Massey also threatened to withdraw all tho other Labour Bills on tho order Paper—which included thp proposed legislation ill regard to victimisation, as well as the Industrial Union and Trado Union Enabling Bill standing in Mr. McCombs' name, which — t unliko Mr. M,assey's proposal—had beep h'Jfpre the Labour Bills Committee and also tho Statutes Revision Committee, both pf wh'ch Jmd recommended it to proceed. SIR JOSEPH GETS ANGRIER. As the momber for Lyttelton proceeded, Sir Joseph AA'ard becamo more, and moro incensed, and, continuously interrupted. But the resolvo of the Labour Group became clearly manifest. They wero determined to exhaust the whole of tho forces, of the House fo defeat tho obnoxious Bill. STONEWALL POSSIBILITIES. Fpr the information of readers it might be explained that each Labour man had tho right of four speeches of ten minutes each on the clause as a whole j then they could havo each made four more speeches on a motion to report progress; wjien this failed, it would have been'-open to any Labour member to move the motion "That the Chairman do now lea-ve tho chair," when each Labour member could have again made fpur speeches. An amendment cqu'd havo then been moved, and it was intended to movo to strike out tho seeped, word in the clause with a view flf inserting a nipi-p suitablo word. Op this amendment each member would have been entitled to again speak four times. Having been defeated— defeat would, of course, bo inevitable — somo "progress" would have been made; that is to say, two words of tlio clause, wmjkl. have been passed, and the motions to report progress • and leave the chair would have again been jn ftrder, with four speeches of ton minutes, each for each speaker on each of the two The clause, which Fas g, long p c ne, pos-: sibjlitiea' in .this direction, aiid when these possibilities were exhausted, it was' open to the ■ obstructionists to JVIPVE F-JRTHER AfAENDMIENTS —a collection pf which they had provided themselves with from the bound volumes of rejected Bills which were to bo found in the Library. Tho result was that tho great Nationr al Government decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and Mr. Massey, ANGRY AND BEATEN. afc last mqved to "report progress" on his Qwn Bill. This meant that the little Social DemocraticrLabour Group scored a magnificent victory against the largest Cabinet and strongest Government that has ever sat on the Treasury Benches in th's ccjuntry. It further justifies political action by the workers, and should go tq impress every working man and woman with the necessity for getting into active membership of the national political party of Labour— the Social Democratic Party.

THE FUBION BtfPPI*EBS. The Liberal and Tory papers were unanimous in their suppression °** -h* s Labour Stonewall.' At 9.30 piii}., instead <rf moving the usiia' half-hour adiPHrnment for supper, Mj. Massey nioved, that the House adourn fpr a? hour—until 10.30. During tjie adjournment a Cabinet meeting wa? heicj, and the business of th? B*}ttse was decayed till' after 11 aa a reaiilt. Members waited impatiently in the lobbies meanwhile, and sang "Tipperr a<ry'* and other classics in a nniltiplicir ty of cracked voices and a great variety of keys. DID THEY FIGHT? It was a very ruffled company of Ministers that met the ppuse after the adjournment, and it is a safe guess that'an augfy battle' was fought in the secrecy of the Cabinet room"Tbe AVorker" j 3 now wopderjng what is likely to, happen to the Bills, and whether any dreadful fate is likely to overtake the Social Democrats and, the Labour men who blocked the Bill that was intended to slaughter the leisure hours of a section of workers in the interests of a constituent of Sir Joseph AVard.