A Further Be joinder by Messrs Maine Bros.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4904, 20 March 1894, Page 3

A Further Be joinder by Messrs Maine Bros.

fO THE EDITORi j Sib,— We are again compelled to appeal to your kindness. The Secretary of tbe Union issued a notification in your Saturday's paper denying tbat the strike is settled or compromised in any way. Well, we wish simply to oay we, at any rate, never in any sense claimed that it was. The public will Bee that the Union secretary has not attempted to deal with or combat our assertion that, at the present 1 time, both Union arid non-TJnion men are working side by side in boot-shops in this city. Neither did he reply to our question why our shop in particular was singled out for a strike attack. The Union Bays we do not pay Union wageß nor accept its conditions. As we have said before, about twelve months ago we applied to the Union for a statement and told that body that we would pay its wages and work its hours. The Union demanded as a condition that we Bhould bind ourselves over our signatures, that we would employ only Union operatives (i.e., those belonging to the Union). This is where the shoe pinches. As tradesmen we deny the right of the Union to dictate to us whom we should or should not employ. We said, if the Union would send ub a statement we would work by it, but we refused to accept , the condition forcing us to employ Union \ men only. Of course we never got the ■ statement. This, we think, covers the 1 Union's ground that we would not pay its wages nor work its hours. We will give one instance of how hardly these Union conditions operate.

i About two monthis ago a young man came i to work at our shop, and he could earn j 1b an hour. The Bootmakers' Union called i him off, and allowed him to work in a \ Union shop for 25s per week. Can it be j Baid the Union benefited this man by its ■ action ? We, ourselves, have quite suffi- [ cient labour, bo practically the strike does i not affect us. Surely we cannot be blamed : for endeavouring to assert our indepen--1 dent judgment. We feel that we ought j not to engage to employ only Union men, j or, indeed, any particular class of workmen, I and if our operatives belong or do not I belong to any society, we humbly claim I the right to employ them. We humbly 1 conceive the action of the Union to be oppressive, and in saying this we leave the public to judge impartially between us. — We are, &c, MAINE BEOS. .