Industrial World

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 955, 27 December 1933, Page 4

Industrial World

CONDUCTED BY OBSERVER

This column is devoted to the news of the industrial Labour movement as represented by the secretaries of the various unions whose headquarters are at the Trades Hall. As the holiday season is with us there will not be any union meetings during the coming week. A Well Earned Retirement. The General Labourers’ Union of Christchurch has new lost the services of Mr 11. Worrall, as secretary of the union, owing to his retirement. Mr Worrall became secretary in 1919, when Mr E. J. Howard was elected a Member of Parliament, and he has served the union faithfully and well for a period of fourteen years. Although he has retired from the secretaryship of the union he will still be a 'member and will represent the union on the Trades and Labour Council and the Workers’ Educational Association. Consequently the trade union movement will receive the assistance of Mr Worrall in its attempt to meet the changing conditions of modern economic life. On Tuesday last the Trade Union secretaries gathered together to express their regret at Mr Worrall’s departure from the Trades Hall and at the partial severance of the personal everyday contact in their meetings to discuss the problems that beset the trade union movement. Mr J. S. Barnett, on behalf of the trade union secretaries, presented Mr Worrall with a travelling rug as a token of the esteem in which he is held by his colleagues. In replying Mr Worrall referred to the progress made by the wage earners even in his day and generation, and attributed that progress to the work of trade unionism. He further referred to the great problem confronting the trade unions in the future through the amendments to the Industrial and Conciliation Act, and stressed the need of educating the wage earners in the real principles of unionism, because in the past wages and conditions were improved mainly by the work of the secretaries and executives. In the future the union as an organised body will have to fight for the improvement of working conditions for its members. The Tramway Union. Since the tramway strike of 1932 two trade unions functioned side by side for the traffic staff. This system of two unions very- closely resembled the company unions of America because one of them was more or less encouraged by the Tramway Board. When the last industrial agreements were drawn up it that the board had to meet the two organisations separately

and conclude two separate agreements. All this resulted in a waste of time for the board and for the men concerned in the disputes. However, since the election of the new Tramway Board, on which there are seven representatives of Labour, the new union has ceased to function. Its members went over in a body to the okl or legitimate trade union. With this increase in numbers the union will have the same numerical strength as it had prior to the strike and it will now be able to employ a full-time secretary to administer its business. Thus the waste of time in dealing with two organisations and the inefficiency resulting therefrom will now be eliminated and greater harmony may result as a consequence. Seniority in the Service. Another factor of interest to all trade unionists is the decision of the present Tramway Board to replace the ex-strikers in their former senior positions in the service. It will be remembered that when these men returned to work after the strike, their senior positions had been given to the volunteer workers. This resulted in a loss of income and in irregular hours of work for men who had been in the employ of the board from seven to twenty years. This irregularity as far as trade union principles are concerned will now be put straight and the men will resume their rightful positions. All this shows what can be done on behalf of the workers when their representatives are in control of local bodies and particularly of economic services. Now that the power of the Arbitration Court has been curtailed, the workers must use every legal instrument they possess. Disputes Unsettled. The Drivers’ Union has failed to reach any settlement in its disputes with the dairy factories and with the coal merchants. After numerous attempts to reach agreements the union has now decided to hand the disputes over to the Alliance of Labour to deal with. In the Wellington butchers' dispute this procedure was adopted with such success that the old award was practically adopted in full. A New Year’s Hopes. The year 1933 which is now drawing to a close has been a very difficult one for the workers of this country. Reduction of wages has been the unusual procedure in industry and trade and unemployment has been rampant. We hope that 1934 will bring greater happiness to workers and their families and that the trade unions will regain their strength and evolve new methods in protecting the interests of wage earners.