Position Of Federation

Northern Advocate, 18 June 1947, Page 2

Position Of Federation

Labour Disputes

(P.A.) WELLINGTON. This Day. A statement issued yesterday from the Federation of Labour defines the position of the organisation in industrial disputes. It recalls that the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union delegates to the annual conference of the federation were defeated by 131 votes to 45 on the concluding evening of the assembly. The statement adds that an amendment moved by the national president of the union (Mr H. Barnes) and Ihe national vice-president cf the union (Mr A. Brennan) "sought to delete from the -annual report of the national executive of the federation practically all reference to the dispute during December and January. The statement proceeds: "The report placed on record the many meetings between representatives of the Waterside Workers' Union national executive and the national council ot the federation and the Government. "The report reminded the watcrsiciers of the policy of the federation in exhausting all avenues of negotiation before taking strike action, that they were urged to resume normal work, cl: the offer of the federation to negotiate a satisfactory settlement, and oi the endorsement by an extraordinary conference in January of the policy pursued by the national executive. "The report concluded: ‘ The decisions of the extraordinary conference have demonstrated beyond any dcubt. apart from the merits or demerits of the claims of any affiliation that no cne affiliation will be pormilled to implicate part or the whole of the trade union movement in an industrial conflict without consultation and endorsement by the trade union movement of the methods to be applied to achieve the objective, and furthermore, that the conference decisions are to be upheld and can be changed only by subsequent conferences’."