INDUSTRIAL UNION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8192, 6 August 1912, Page 8

INDUSTRIAL UNION

FOR EMPLOYERS AAIERIGAN EXAAIPLES OF lIOAV IT ACTS. SPECIAL TO THE "TIMES. - ' CHRISTCHURCH, August 3. Air AY. L. Nederhoed, a visitor from New A’ork, in an interview here said ho was astonished that the employers of labor in the Dominion arc not better organised amongst themselves for tho purpose of mutual aid, advice, and help. Tho masters in the United States have taken loaves from tho book of tho American Federation of Labor, and meet- annually in conference so that matters of moment may he discussed and steps taken to prevent the manufacturers being hampered and the employers exploited by tho unions. The chief organisation of this sort is tho National Association of Alanufacturers. Practically all the manufacturers arc members of it, and each pays a subscription of fifty dollars (£10) per year. It has offices in Broadway, Now York, and from them is published its official organ, a journal devoted solely to the close study of tho industrial situation and publishing details of all labor troubles current at tho moment in tho States. In this way there is a valuable record of difficulties being compiled, with tho causes or alleged causes of them, and tho ways in which they have been mot. So far the books show that in the great majority of cases the costs ol the stoppage in work and the added cost entailed by granting demands lor higher wages have had to be passed on to the general public. The manufacturers and tho middlemen cannot afford to pay the difference between the old cost and the new, and the result has boon that as demands had been made and met in so many branches there was an appreciable rise in the. cost of living. The effects of industrial strife were very far-spreading, too. He had noticed while in AVellington, the recent English strikes playing a part in colonial prices. In regard to brass goods he saw that there was a rise in price equivalent to 15 per cent. It was to remedy this state of affairs that the federation of employers were being formed in nearly all branches of industry.

In the hardware trade, in which he is interested, for example, the manufacturers, tho jobbers, ana tho retailors met each year and all matters appertaining to tho trade were discussed fully. It could bo seen clearly that these discussions must prove helpful to all concerned, and hero in New Zealand, where there was ample scope for such organisations, they appeared to be neglected. He was sure it would prove to tho lasting profit of tho masters of the Dominion if they combined more carefully for the protection of their industries and consequently of tho public itself. To his mind, too, it seemed st» - ango that so many things which could and doubtless should bo made here are being imported. The visitor who watched at all carefully could not help being impressed by the possibilities existing here for tho inception of new industries and the extension of those already established.