WHO SHOULD SAY "STRIKE."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14930, 1 March 1912, Page 3

WHO SHOULD SAY "STRIKE."

f, :'■" " . ■1 ■: \:f v P -".'V: WIVES AND DAUGHTERS OF '' WOHKEIIS. 3 \ "Tj£E wives, daughters, and sisters ot - workers should vote by means of a secret ■' -* ballot, organised by the Federal Trades Unions of Australia, before a strike, which is internecine' war,, is' determined upon the future. Tho women have to suffer '■■■■ equally, with, if not more than, the 'men, ', - from a ; strike, and they, should have a | : ; say in a j decision to stop work." This is the view of Mr. King O'Malley, ; J ; Federal 'Minister for Home Affairs, and , i 4 ;is - tho . first occasion on which. such an m opinion has been expressed by a leading ,!• Labour politician. . Mr. O'Mallcy went further Striken 1 & are generally , begun," : lie said," "by indi-fig " viduals—young men whose > enthusiasm' -~ carries them and many of their hearers;;-,* 1 r off their feet. Trades unions should pass 1 , „. by-laws providing for a secret. ballot .of all unionists in Australia, whenever a big i strike is proposed. Of course, I know ' that economic wrongs of centuries rankle i#, in the minds of 1 ardent-young men. They cannot forget the time when classes were r cannibals, and the masses slaves, whoso ~ lives were eaten away piecemeal, - and .; r again I say that I heartily agree with Mr,. 1 - Griffith, New South, Wales-Minister for "Works, that strikes have been responsible, If for the reverses recently suffered by - the" <, Labour party. There is a better way of ■working cut our salvation. We must work unceasingly for industrial freedom, but through legislation, and increasing force of public opinion.''