THE UNION BADGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14132, 6 August 1909, Page 5

THE UNION BADGE.

A WEAPON OF BOYCOTT, By Telegraph.— Association.— ' Melbourne, August 5. The Victorian Employers' Federation ■• has decided to make every effort to prevent the use of the union badge. The federation considers it is being introduced as a weapon of boycott.

CAMPAIGN STARTS ON MONDAY. Everything is in readiness for unionists to take up the position of "wanting to see the union badge " from every shop assistant who serves them (says the Sydney Morning Herald), and it has been decided to ask all unionists to make such a request in every shop in which he or his family deals from Monday, August 9. Mr. Young, the organising secretary of the New South Wales Shop Employees' Union, stated on Friday last: "The whole of our machinery is now in order, and the assistance that we are getting from the shopkeepers goes to show that the great opposition talked of by the Retail Traders' Association is melting away, and that the shopkeeper who puts his back against the wall and refuses to countenance the badge will before long be a very exceptional person. In fact, the shopkeepers who have taken up such a position - could , be counted on your fingers. One or two of the city shops are sticking out, but they are few, and we have decided to let them ; severely alone. They will work out their own salvation, for, it will soon become known who they are. In the first place,; we wrote to every shopkeeper and asked him if he had any objection to his assistants wearing the badge, or at any rate showing it to all unionists who wished to see it. My executive pointed out that it had no desire to interfere with a man's trade or business; but the union was determined that preference to unionists should be established among shop assistants. It had been point blank refused them by the employers ; the Court had refused it also, and the only way.it could be obtained was by invoking the aid of unionists all over the State. It was astonishing the number of shopkeepers who replied that they would raise no objection. Other shopkeepers were simply keeping quiet. They did not want to be drawn into any quarrel, and they intended to wink the other eye at any attempt to prevent the assistants showing a customer the badge. They were not going to let their shops become unpopular with unionists, but at the same time they were not going to openly defy the Employers' Association." '■■";.. At a meeting of the executive committee of the New South Wales Employers' Federation, held in Sydney last Friday, attention was called to the Labour Council's action regarding shop assistants wearing the "union badge," and it was decided that " any such action should be drastically opposed, as it is a distinct blow at the liberty of the subject, and is of vital importance to all free-minded citizens." ■ :', v; .. : v .''■.■ '.* ; . V : :C-"