AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL WORKERS' COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2685, 30 August 1905, Page 25

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL WORKERS' COLUMN.

Br Steve Boheham. In \levv of the proceedings that will, sooner or later, be taken by tha Agricultural and Pastoral Workers' Industrial Unions to bring low-wage employers into line through the medium of an award of the Arbitration Covirfc, I propose devoting my notes this week to giving a little advice to members in general, and officers in par--ticular. 'Writing to the officers first, I have no hesitation in stating that hitherto, owing to their laxity and downright neglect, disputes that have been brought before the OCurt and dealt with were never considerecT by .the members, or were the proceedings leading up to the presenting of such disputes before- tho court conducted in accor-~ dares with th© rules of- the union, or as laid down by "The Conciliation and Arbitration. Act, 1900," and its amendments. 'Therefore, had objection been taken by the representatives of the employers cited, I hiiw no doubt the unions T have in my mind would not have s>ucoeeded in stating their cas&3 to Che court, and consequently vrould have incurred expanses to no purpose. It is with the ..object of avoiding any danger in this direction arising in future that th© writer wishes -to draw th© attention of members and officers of workers' unions to the grave risk they are running when they rush their business through. _ irrespective of the union rules, and with a total disregard for either the j letter or th& spirit of the law, with which ;we as unionists are expected by,- the Arbitration Court to comply when bringing our disputes forward to be settled by the court. .When selecting officers, especially the seerej'tary, members sHould endeavour to 7 secure the services of men thoroughly acquainted i with every detail of the employment member? *re engaged in. further, the 'secre.tai'y should ,-be a -person qualified to pi'epare ■'ana conduct cases, before the ocurt, 'meet employers in conference, and generally be well informed on all matters affecting any dispute that may ari^e between the union and employers; and, above all, officers -should be men who in all cases -would recognise that there are two sides to^ every • dispute. Very often it occurs that the employers are, if they know how to proceed, able to submit stronger arguments in support of tlieir sde than ourselves, with the result that we return to our work wiser, if not better paid, servants. As an illustration of Ihis, I refer my readers to the dispute brought foiward by the Otago shearers la6t year. It will be remembered that the shearers, on getting so far, by a I fluke, as to hav-3 the opportunity afforded ; them of being heard in support of their demands before tho court, were so conrii- dent that theirs v.as tiro only side to the dispute that they seized tho opportunity «.-f showing the rest of New Zealand, and the court in particular, that the Otago Shearers' Union had for members extraordinarily fast shearers — men who at 15s per 100 could -earn from 15s to 22s 6d perjlay; and in face of this fact, which was proved by the sworn testimony of ihs witnesses called by tha union, the union in its demands asked the court to make an award that would enable us to' earn from 18s to 27s per day. Of course this is only a minoi" .offence: still, it goes to show .that the affairs of the union were managed by a clique, and that the whole procedure was, to my knowledge, conducted in such a slipshod manner that, had exception been taken, the dispute would not have got before the court at all. Another grave mistake country, unions are , prone to make, '* and one that -should not, and must not in -future, be made if we expect to get anything like a fair deal, is that of demanding 1 what we ourselves know to be an exorbitant rate of pay for our work. We usually "ihak-e the excessive demands* in ill* hope of receiving what we consider would be a i fail? wage. This is a grave mistake, ar,d one that in future must be avoided. 'We must under no circumstances make demands that we are not in a position to back up with strong evidence and sound argument, or tho result may be, as in the shearers' dispute, that we are sent abovut our work with a lesser wage than we were receiving bsforo the dispute arose. It must not be forgotten that the court has reached that stage in its existence when it will not be trifled with in the direction indicated. It therefore behoves 113 to see to it that in future we recognise in the Arbitration Corort an institution of some experience and with a wide knowledge of industrial questions. While writing this I do not wish to convey the idea that I, in my capacity as secretary of several unions, have not been guilty of the shortcomings complained of. As a matter of fact, at least one union placing its confidence in my ability to manage its aft'ains has learnt to its cost that it is the duty of every member to keep a strict eye on the conduct of the secretary, or the consequences may be, as in the sailmakers' case, fatal to its very existence. Personally, I offer no excuse- for myself for the blunder which brought about the annihilation of that vmion; on the other hand, the I deeisioa delivered by the- learned judge is ( iio more than one could expect after hearj ing the evidence brought forward by the other skle, and the clear and lucid definition of the duties of a secretary given by Mr Justice Chapman. _ 1_ would recommend my readers to carefully read his Honor's judgment in this case, when it will be obvious that, in order to be successful, secretaries of unions must adhere strictly to the rules of their unions, not o2ily ill so far as such rules deal with bringing disputes before the court, but in the conduct of meetings and the proper exhaustive dis- 1 cussion and consideration, of all Questions j

coming before it wherein the interests of employers are affected. In my next notes I shall deal with the obligations of members of unions to their officers, and endeavour to show that in most cases where unions have suffered disappointment with awards of the Arbitration Court, and subsequent disaster to the union in consequence, this might have been avoided had members remained loyal to their unions. Let me here assure my fellow workers that the time has arrived when employers will choose for employ-ees only those workers who are known to them to be men who look after iheir own interests, as it. is only, such men that an employer can trust to look after his interests.