A MAJOR UNION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22917, 21 December 1937, Page 22

A MAJOR UNION

CLERICAL WORKEBS PROBABLE ROLL OF 5000 RUSH FOR MEMBERSHIP An estimated membership of between 4000 and 5000 is expected by Mr. A. S. Herring, secretary to the Auckland Clerical Workers' Union, by the time the rush for applications to join has ceased. In the week since the award was announced, the union office staff has found it difficult to cope with the demands for enrolment by typists, telephone operators, cashiers and general clerical workers for inclusion in the union roll, for it is compulsory for every person over the age of 18 to become a member. In the event of the union achieving a membership in the neighbourhood of 5000, it probably would be the largest \inion in the Auckland Province, said Mr. Herring. Over 300 had joined within a week of the award pronouncement bj- the Arbitration Court. The decision of the Court to award retrospective pay from October 18 to December 13 had come as a pleasant surprise to clerical workers, since the hearing of the dispute had been the subject of protracted delay, and some retrospective payments had amounted to £lO in Individual instances. Although the award was current only until February 6, 1938, the terms and conditions would hold good until the Dominion award had been determined. Early in the new year the New Zealand Association of Clerical Workers, to which the eight clerical workers' unions were affiliated, would make application for the hearing of a Dominion dispute, said Mr. Herring, and he expected that with the functioning of two Courts of Arbitration, the hearing would not be so long delayed as was the clerical workers' dispute this year