Discipline And Trade Unions

Northern Advocate, 4 June 1947, Page 5

Discipline And Trade Unions

(P.A.)

WELLINGTON, This Day

Failure to accept majority decisions would only lead to the destruction of discipline and the disintegration of the Labour movement, said the president of the New Zealand Federation of Labour (Mr A. W. Croskery), in his address at the opening of the annual conference of the federation yesterday. “Economic circumstances are not all just as we would like them,” said Mr Croskery, “but we can at least console ourselves with the fact that we are in a much more favourable position than the workers and people of most other countries.

“At the very least, we can claim there is no one in New Zealand who is denied the necessities of life. “The future of trade unionism rests on the ability of the workers in their unions, of delegates to national unions, and of national councils and annual conferences to understand that trade union democracy rests upon the basis of majority decisions and the ability of the minority on any question to accept the majority decision. “Failure to appreciate this fundamental fact of trade unionism must lead to the destruction of discipline and the disintegration of our Labour movement.”