GUILDS OPPOSED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22434, 2 June 1936, Page 11

GUILDS OPPOSED

TEADES HALL TRUST RESENTMENT AT ACTION MARKET EMPLOYEES* POSITION INDUSTRIAL UNION PROPOSAL According to thoso interested in the formation o£. guilds, which propose to form themselves into industrial unions, a sharp conflict of ■ ideas is apparent between the movement generally to create industrial unions and existing trade unions. It was suggested yesterday that a meeting will be called by-those concerned in creating industrial unions to discuss the situation.

The Trades Hall Trust yesterday refused an application by tho Market Employees' Guild to hold a meeting in the Trades Hall to-morrow. The chairman of the trust, Mr. G. Davis, who is also secretary of tho Storemen and Packers' Union, subsequently made a statement that the Labour movement was opposed to the registration of guilds, and therefore it was deemed advisable to refuse an application that might come in conflict with tho interests of the unions. Mr. Davis has written to the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, complaining that employers connected with tho city markets wore compelling their employees to become members of guilds, with the idea of making agreements outside of tho scope of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. A Suggestion Denied Not only do the organisers of the Market Employees' Guild give an emphatic denial to the suggestion that employers are behind the guild or sponsoring tho guild in any way, but several employers disclaim any such action on their part. " I admit that when we started to organise, we informed employers of the fact because we wanted permission to do several things in business hours, and also permission to uso certain facilities for meetings," said an official of the guild. " That is the sum total of the employers' connection with tho guild." Several representatives of tho guild, who professed indignation at the action of the Trades Hall Trust, and also at the allegation contained in the letter sent by Mr. Davis to the Minister of Labour, explained that the guild comprised several types of labour, some of its members belonging to such craft or trade organisations as the Drivers' Union or the Storemen and Packers' Union, or being eligible for membership. The organisers of the guild were desirous of having one industrial union representing the marketing industry. The only method by which this could bo carried into effect, in their opinion, was to form a guild, and then to have it registered as an industrial union representative not of any particular trade or craft within the industry, but of the wholo industry. ' The new legislation made provision for this course to be followed, subject to the consent of the Minister of Labour when, as in the present case, the organisation was not an existing trade union on May 1 last. In spite of the legislation, which entitled tho guild to adopt the course now proposed, opposition was coming from registered craft or trade unions who were threatened, in their opinion, with a loss of strength. Retaliation Threatened "If certain Trades Hall interests object to the formation of industrial unions, according to the procedure laid down in the recent legislation, why do they not attack the principle generally?" said one of the promoters of the Market Employees' Guild. "Why should they attack our guild in particular. We are just as keen as they are on a 40 hours week and higher wages. To my mind this bitterness is not going to do the Labour movement any good.

j "Trades Hall interests should reI member that the Labour Government | got into power through the additions of votes of persons in occupations such as ours. If wo are going to be baited in the way that is being done and otherwise treated with suspicion, we are powerful enough to make our resentment felt in unionism. The Trades Hall should seek to welcome us, not try and alienate our support. We have plenty of evidence of divisions of opinion about us in the Trades Hall movement; in any case, those opposing us show that they are at variance with political Labour that framed legislation to permit our admission as industrial unions. That does not suggest solidarity."