WILL FUNCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27041, 28 March 1949, Page 4

WILL FUNCTION

CARPENTERS’ UNION

WELLINGTON PRESIDENTS STATEMENT

PA WELLINGTON. Mar. 27. The statement of the Minister of Labour, Mr McLagan, on the deregistration of the Auckland Carpenters’ Union was commented on yesterday by the president of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Carpenters and Joiners’ Union. Mr F. Throsseli. He was referring to the Minister’s statement • that the Auckland carpenters and joiners no longer had a union to which they could belong. -.This, Mr Throsseli said, was “ nonsensical, antiunion propaganda for the benefit of builders and other Auckland employers.” These employers, he added, had a combined lockout and boycott of 1000 carpenters and joiners, with the object of starving them and their families into the acceptance of low wages and worsened conditions. “ The Auckland branch of our union will continue to function as a union, as the Minister and the Master Builders’ Association well know it has every legal and constitutional right to do.” continued Mr Throsseli. “ Deregistration under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act will not stop the functioning of the union as a union to protect and improve the interests of the carpenters and joiners in its area. The main difference now will be that our Auckland members will no longer have an award of the Arbitration Court to govern 1 their wages and conditions. “This simply means that our Auckland branch . will have to make an agreement with the Auckland Master Builders’ Associations governing wages and conditions of work, and will have to rely on its own organisational strength to ensure that all builders comply with the conditions of the agreement,” Mr Throsseli continued. “ This step has its precedent, as is' well known from the case of the Auckland branch of the Drivers’ Union.” The speaker added that this union was deregistered some few years ago, but continued to function, and in fact had secured better wages and conditions for its than those obtained under an award of the Arbitration Court. He added that no doubt an early meeting of the union’s national body would be held to discuss the situation and issue a national statement.