THE ORIGIN OF THE STRIKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10924, 13 November 1913, Page 6

THE ORIGIN OF THE STRIKE.

ro THE EDITOR. Sir, —-It has been said th.at the;wat«rside workers in Wellington .have been locked ' out because thoy stopped work for an hour and 20 minutes to hold a meeting. They only followed the example of the shipping who; stopped work for a whole day when Lord Liverpool arrived, and for another day wlien the. Dreadnought reached Wellington. If it be wrong for workers to put the public of Wellington to inconvenience for an hour and 20 minutes, then by what language shall we designate the employers of Wellington, who have put the whole public of the dominion to inconvenience ever since? It has been stated that the United Federation of Labour decided to iiccept terms that the employers originally offered it, ana which wero at first rejected by it. This is not true. It was the Waterside Workers' Union that was offered terms which included a penalty clause. This was, rejected by it on the ground that it wanted its old agreement, which it had never broken. The matter was then placed in the hands of the executive of the United Federation of Labour, which at once decided to accept the employers' offer. The United Federation of Labour had nothing to do with the dispute until the waterside workers had failed to settle it'. The aggressive employers, anxious for strife, refused to accept the iteration's terms of peace originally offered by "the employers. When a fresh basis of peace was under discussion, and it was announced that both parties favoured the principles underlying it, Mr Massey declared the fanners were a third party to the disputo. When a basis of ' peace was agreed to with the farmers the employers were again the obstruction.

Tho whole thing is part of a plan to smash organised labour. The workers do not want- to manage the employers' unions, and they certainly oppose the employers managing theirs.—We are, etc., R. Miller, Chairman Strike Committee. W. Dwight, J. Griffin, J. Moorehead, J. Prendergast, A. May. " ' - Dunedin, November 11.