THE RIGHT OF EMPLOYMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 3443, 9 March 1920, Page 18

THE RIGHT OF EMPLOYMENT

CLAIMS BY EX-SERVICE MEN. AN INDUSTRIAL ARMISTICE. LONDON, January 8. Mr Donald Simson (late Captain, hon, chief organiser of the Comrades of the Great War) writes to The Times—chiefly relative to the moulders' strike: — "The public and press should realise that 75 per cent, of the men unemployed to-day are the men who least deserve it—the men who fought for the right to live. The moulders' strike has caused endless sufferin °\ Many of the moulders are ex-soldiers who have only recently been discharged from the army and started work. These men have not had any opportunity during the last four years of earning good wages. As soon as they start, and the country is making- headway towards recovery, strikes are called. The ex-Service unemployed, who number 350,000, are king-suffering and patient, but they are getting absolutely 'fed up' with the present state of affairs. The Government blame the trade unions, the trade unions blame the employers, and leaders of unions quarrel among themselves —result, stagnation and unrest. "Speaking with a wide knowledge of exService men in Great Britain, I say they are going to claim the right to suitable employment, and the sooner the Government, trade unions, and employers recognise this fact the better. Discharged soldiers' organisations are all determined to claim for their members fair treatment. The exService men demand an industrial armistice to avoid stoppages of indoistrv. We srave the Germans an armistice. Why not have one for the benefit of .the men who saved the country? Cries for a Britain and greater production are useless if masse* of men are disorganispd bv self-willed, selfseeking lenders on all sides."