DESPERATE STEP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21853, 16 July 1934, Page 9

DESPERATE STEP

AID FOR LONGSHOREMEN INSTRUCTIONS TO UNIONS OPPOSITION HOWLED DOWN AN OVERWHELMING VOTE By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received July 15, G..15 p.m.) SAN FRANCISCO. July 14 The general strike, which will be of gradually increasing tensity, will apply to San Francisco and Oakland. It is a desperate manoeuvre to help the Pacific Coast longshoremen and marine workers, who are locked in battle with the employers. Howling down the conservative elements at the meeting of the huge General Strike Committee delegates representing 65,000 union men of the San Francisco rank and file voted overwhelmingly for the general strike. Unions which already had voted to strike were instructed to walk out on Monday and those which had not balloted were ordered to take a strike vote immediately.

CAUSE OF DISPUTE LABOUR ON WATERFRONT METHOD OF ENGAGING The strike in San Francisco commenced on May 9, when 10,000 to 15,000 longshoremen, or waterside workers, ceased work. The main point of their dispute with the employers was, and still is, the method to be adopted in employing waterfront labour. Increased pay and shorter hours also were sought by the men, bnt, according to reports, a compromise could be reached on these two matters.

The employers proposed that committees of employers and men should formulate rules for the registration and hiring of longshoremen through hiring halls to he established in each port. In operating the halls there was to be no discrimination against any man because of membership or non-membership of a labour union. The employers demanded freedom to select their men, at the same time leaving the men free to select their jobs. The payment of rent of the halls and incidental expenses were to be borne by the employers, and the men's organisation, the International .Longshoremen's Association, was to maintain its own representatives in the halls.

This arrangement, according to the men, would mean less favourable conditions than they had hitherto enjoyed. In a statement the San Francisco strike committee said: "A hiring hall controlled and paid for by the employers certainly could not be considered by the members, as it leaves the employers in absolute control. Under this agreement, the employer has the privilege of hiring whomever he pleases; as a consequence, those who have actively participated in this strike would never be hired on the San Francisco waterfront again." From the first day of the strike sanguinary skirmishes have occurred involving strikers, police and strikebreakers. The trouble spread to Pacific Coast ports other than San Francisco and additional labour unions have thrown in their lot with the longshoremen. Among the many thousands of men subsequently to become voluntarily idle are members of the Sailors' Union, Marine Cooks and Stewards' Union, Masters, Mates and Pilots' Union, Engineers' Beneficial Association and Marine Firemen's Union, as well as thousands of lorry and taxi-cab drivers and chauffeurs. Shipping and internal services have become dislocated and heavy financial losses have been suffered by the business community, particularly in San Francisco.