THE UNITED LABOR PARTY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8179, 22 July 1912, Page 4

THE UNITED LABOR PARTY

Continuing the discussion on the constitution ami platform of the United Labor Party, wo have to consider at this time tho clause bearing on those trades unions whoso members aw engaged in occupations which reappear in practically all of tho industries. Ono of the most serious difficulties in tho organising of labor along tho lino of industries in which it is employed in tho very great difficulty of dealing with those workers who, instead of being employed in any particular industry, have eomo share in practically all tho industries. Tho United labor Party attempts to cover this difficulty, with tho following clause in its constitution:— ' '

UNIONS WITH COMPLEX RELATIONS

Any union, or any organisation of unions, representing any trade or occupation which is closely related to many industries (as, for example, stationary ongine-JHvors or general laborers). may elect to join tho United labor Party either as a group within tho unions of a particular industry with which it happens to lie associated, or through the Dominion organisation of its own trade or occupation. "Whichever course is chosen, however, such workers must, in an industrial dispute, act in co-operation with tho organised workers of tho particular industry with which they arc associated at the time in question, and they shall have full voico in such dispute. It is easy enough to organise all of the building trades into a federation to be composed of delegates representing the carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, plasterers, sawmill workers, and all the other workers in the building trades whose employment within the industry depends upon some of the skilled trades engaged in building enterprises, but when it roaches tho general laborers or the en-gine-drivers in tho sawmills, or _ any cither group of workers whose service is not limited like that of carpenters and plasterers to the building industry, who may ono day ho employed in ono industry and the next in another, we have immediately a very serious difficulty in maintaining at tho same time an industrial organisation and providing a place for such workers whoso employment is not confined to any industry. «#,»-»•

There is no other point on which the effort to organise labor unions along the linos of industries in which they ara employed where difficulty so frequently arises and which prove insurmountable. * # • • •

Jt will be seen from the olauso in the constitution above quoted that the United Labor Party takes the position that in oil snoh instances, the wca-kers engaged in such a way may have the option to become members of the industrial organisation of the industry in which they are employed, or to become members of the general organisation of their own occupation, and having exorcised t-Heir choice they shall havo all the rights of

trades unionists in any occupation m which they may bo employed, but with this proviso:—That in any occupation in which they may be for the time being employed tho solidarity of the workers in that particular industry shall be maintained by giving to such workers voice and vote in all local controversies to bind them when so given voice and veto to be bonnd in any such local dispute by the action of tho majority. * • u * •

It will be noticed that In this clausa in tho constitution stationary enginedrivers are specially mentioned as an example. This clause was prepared and stationary engine-drivers specially mentioned, as is'here done in the first draft of this constitution, which was jirinted and circulated throughout New Zealand nearly a year before tho Waihi strike. It could not have been drafted with the view of interfering with the dispute already in existence., It was drafted for the express purpose of making such disputes unnecessary. •9■ # • •

If this provision had been in operation and had been binding on tho workers at Waihi the miners would have had no authority to compel tho stationary engine-drivers to join tho Miners’ Union, nor would the stationary engine-drivers have had authority to maintain a separate organisation and use its power to break the solidarity of the mining industry through the pretence of loyalty to a separate organisation.

The strike in Waihi is a strike to compel engine-drivers to become members of the Miners’ Union. Tho nniviedom of such a course, the unfairness of such a proposal, is manifest when it is remembered that the stationary enginedrivers being subject to employment, first in one industry and then in another, would be subject to a special hardship if they were required to change unions every time they changed employment. ■•* » • •

On the other hand, if this arrangement had' been in operation in Waihi, while the engine-drivers would have been permitted under it to create and maintain a branch of their own in affiliation with the general engine-drivers of the country, they would have been bound (under this arrangement to support the collective interest of all tho workers in the mining industry so long as they themselves were rendering service as engine-drivers within the mines. • « * • •

The contention of tho miners that they are fighting to compel the stationary engine-drivers to join their organisation as the only means of maintaining solidarity of labor is a contention which cannot be supported.. Wherever it has been undertaken it has led to no end of trouble, and it leads to trouble because it directly proposes a programme which is both unwise and unjust. The United Labor Party baa proposed the only programme and obedience to this clause in its constitution will be the only method of protecting special interests of such special trades, and at the same time maintaining solidarity within the industries.