HELP FROM LABOUR.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20362, 20 July 1934, Page 5

HELP FROM LABOUR.

Employers’ Objections to Tariff Changes. UNIONS’ ATTITUDE OUTLINED. That employees in many of the industries affected by the new proposals for tariff reductions were in sympathy with the employers in their protests was made clear at the special meeting of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association last night. Two trades union secretaries, Messrs G. T. Thurston and J. Roberts, who were invited to the meeting, were emphatic in their statements that support would be forthcoming from the labour unions. The new proposals would increase unemployment, declared Mr Thurston, who maintained that if the workers were asked to assist the employers the latter should reciprocate. He was satisfied that the Alliance of Labour was in favour of a higher tariff, so that New Zealand would not become a small farmyard, but a place where men and women could rear their families and enjoy something of the amenities of life.

Mr Roberts was equally emphatic that the manufacturers could be assured of support from their employees The remarks of the two speakers were greeted with applause. Reports presented to the meeting by sectional trade committees set up by the association indicated that in most cases sufficient facts on which to base action had been given to the employees, several groups of whom had decided to protest either as a body or in association with the employers.