THE NEW UNIONISM

Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 475, 21 April 1920, Page 2

THE NEW UNIONISM

' Si&teSal.-exceedingly important de»; velopments in the Trade Union movement are taking place at tlya present

time which every Socialist must note, says the "Labor Leader." It Is Increasingly recognised now that Labor's Industrial organisation will faun an integral part of the Socialist sy3tem arid be the means by which the workers will directly control the management and conditions of the industry or service in which they "are ongaged. This development of SociaUjt theory makes it necessary that Socialists should pay the close3t attention "to Trade Union action accl structure. Tiie Building Guild It is probably not too much to say that-the decision of the workers in the Building Trades of Manchester to offer to construct houses, without any intervention on the pan of employers, direct for the Manchester City Council and-the Irlam District Council is the most significant and revolutionary development that has ever taken place in the Trade Union world. For some years now the Guild theory has been discussed and debated—once at Leeds. In 'the case of the headquarters of the Theosophical Society it was applied to a limited degree; but here is a bold, practical, and extended application which may le'tid in the early future to the organisation of the whole building industry on the Guild basis. "One feels ashamed," remarked Mr. Cole at the National Guilds meeting addressed by Mr. Bernard Shaw in London —"one ffeels ashamed to have been discussing this Guild idea so long without having thought of this simple, practical scheme." It is Manchester Guild Committee which has worked out a constructive scheme in detail, and the names of those who have participated in it deserve record. They are: Mr. S. G. Hobson, author of "National Guilds and the State"; Councillor Lewis "Watson, President of the Operative Bricklayers' Society; Councillor Richard Cbppock, North-Western Organiser of the Building Trade Operatives' Federation; and Councillor Frank Gregson, Secretary of the Manchester Branch of the Federation. The Manchester Branch of the Federation has now taken over responsibility for the whole scheme from this original small committee. A Great Opportunity Already steps are being taken to secure the adoption of the scheme in many parts of the country. The Management Committees of all ihe Building Trade Unions of "Warrington have unanimously decided to form a Building Guild Committee, and it is intended that the Committee should work conjointly with the Manchester Committee. At Wigan, Bolton, and other Lancashire towns plans for Guild organisation are well advanced. In London, committee discussions are proceeding, and a big public meetingto further the idea is to be held In the Kingsway Hall on February 16. A conference is being h'.'ld in Rotherham next week with a view to adopting the scheme. At Bournemouth a Building Trades' Guild-has been formed, but the fact that it is proposing to issue £5 shares suggests that it has not thoroughly mastered the Manchester proposals. I hear that at the headquarters of the Building Trade Unions letters are pouring in from all over the country enthusiastically urging the adoption of the scheme. The national adoption of the scheme by the Unions is probable. A special conference of Operatives is being held in Manchester this week to discusg housing, and the Guild system will certainly receive particular attention. One word of warning should be. ! given. The Guild organisation will provide the labor, but it will not provide the materials. The materials are in the hands of a Building Ring ■which is keeping up prices at prohibitive rates. View of the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health was at first somewhat sceptical about, the scheme, but I understand that conferences which took place last, week between the officials and representatives from Manchester have modified its views. The point which both the Government and th'e municipalities have been raising most difficulties about is financial. The Manchester Guild Committee decline, of course, to take any financial responsibility. "That is not our concern," they say. "We possess a monopoly of labor in the building trade in Manchester. If the Manchester City Council will supply the materials, we will organise the labor. Wβ do not want to make a commercial profit, but we ask the Council to advance the labor cost and overhead charges. If the scheme fails, the Council will in any case have tangible property equivalent to the money advanced." I hear that. the Manchester Committee has received assurances of cooperation from architects and supervisory workers, whose support is, of course, a necessary part of Guild organisation.