LABOUR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 18 April 1910, Page 5

LABOUR.

A GERMAN TROUBLE. BUILDING TRADE LOCK OUT. 1,000,000 WORKERS AFFECTED. [Pbess Association—ComiGM.] BERLIN, Saturday. A general building lock out in Germany will begin at midnight at Cherburg. the Berlin district being excepted. The building trades rejected the Employers' League's proposals for a new form of a three years' agreement embodying recognition of piecework, a continuance of the ten hour day, and a distinction between capables and incapables. THE TRADE AT A STANDSTILL. 22,000 FIRMS WITHOUT WORK. (Received April 18, 10.40 a.m.) BERLIN, Sunday. The building trade of Germany is at a standstill excepting at Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, where a majority do not belong to the unions. The men's fund will suffice for five weeks. There are 200,000 workless employers, representing 22,000 firms. THE TIMBER STACKERS' STRIKE. WHARF LABOURERS' SYMPATHY. (Received 10.40 a.m.) MELBOURNE, Monday. In sympathy with the timber stackers' strike the Wharf Labourers' Union has resolved to notify .shipowners that no timber will be handled for export from to-day, but that state and interstate vessels which arrived up to Saturday will be discharged. THE QUEENSLAND BUTCHERS' STRIKE. TEMPORARY RESUMPTION OF WORK. BRISBANE, Sunday. The meat works employees have resumed work pending a conference on. Monday, when the employers and employees will discuss the situation. THE PAPAROA STRIKE, DISPUTE SETTLED. GREYMOUTH, Sunday. On Friday morning the Paparoa miners came out on strike because a man who had not signed the agreement was refused entrance to the mine. It is stated that the matter has been settled, and hat work will be resumed on Monday. NEW ZEALAND WORKERS' ASSOCIATION. A FEDERATION OF LABOUR, Mr H. R. Voyce general secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation, in course of a conversation with a "Post" reporter, gave some interesting details of the trend of New Zealand labour towards unity. "There is," he said, "a vigorous labour campaign going on throughout the country from the North Ca.pe to the Bluff. We workers have come to see that if we are to have our just rights recognised we must present a united front.

"As a beginning wo start with federation, of unions. Now the Waterside Workers are federated. There are ten unions in the federation, and they number over 4000 men. The unions of all the ports are in, from the north to Dunedin. I might say to the Bluff, but the union there is at present in course of formation. With our federation we shall be able to command uniform conditions at all ports as to hours of labour, rates of pay. and working rules and methods. Well, not exactly uniform, because an exception will be made in the case of small ports, where shipping is not so frequent as in the chief ports, and where a higher hourly rate of pay will be demanded, because shipping is less frequent than at ports such a.s Auckland, Lyttelton, or Wellington. "One of the strong principles recognised in our federation is this: As waterside workers are subject to instant dismissal. so they. too. have the right to leave off work at a moment's notice. Is not that fair? If employers have that right, whv not the men

"Now for the Federation of Labour. This is a great undertaking. It means all the title says, comprehendincr all unions of workers, miners, waterside workers. carters, bootmakers—all unions. You will hear more of that in Wellington shortly because Messrs D. McLaren and R. Semple are to hold a mass meeting of workers hero and put the whole scheme before them. Relationships with Australian workers? That may come afterwards." Pasing from the general to the particular. Mr. Voyce 1 said there was a strong tendency as the winter months drew nearer for workers of other callings to flock to the ports to the prejudice of the bone fide regular wharf labourer. This competition was bad for all parties except employers. It tended to narrow down the wages, spreading a given sum expended on wharf labour over a larger area, so that even if there were plenty of work there were more men to do it, and it was difficult for the "regular man" to obtain a living wage. This problem was confronting the Waterside Workers' Federation at the moment, and its satisfactory solution. WORK OF BRITTSII BUREAUX. (Received April IS. 11.40 a.m.) LONDON. Sunday. The 030 labour exchanges have filled 12.023 vacancies in February, . and 20.395 in March.