ONE BIG UNION.

Wairarapa Age, 7 July 1936, Page 7

ONE BIG UNION.

STRONG OPPOSITION VOICED IN CHRISTCHURCH. PROMOTERS’ ACTION CONDEMNED CHRISTCHURCH, July 6. Emphatic opposition to the proposal form one big union in the railway is expressed in a statement issued by the Canterbury branch of the Locomotive Engineers’, Firemen's, and Cleaners’ Association. The statement describes the action of the promoters of the proposal in carrying out a campaign in the daily newspapers as 14 most deplorable” and calculated to stir up class hatred among railwaymen themselves. The full statement is as follows:— 44 1 n reference to recent publicity in the daily Press concerning ‘one big union’ in the railway service the Canterbury branch of the Locomotive Engineers’, Firemen’s, and Cleaners’ Association wishes to state emphatically that it is definitely opposed to such a project. Having governed their own affairs for close on thirty years, experience has convinced locomotive men throughout New Zealand as to the wisdom of the step they took when they formed their own association, a step they have never regretted. We would point out that workers outside the Public Service have their own unions, and though railway servants work for one employer the service is .composed of a wide variety of trades and professions; in fact, one has really .to stretch one’s imagination to call some of these men 4 railway men. ’ These facts do not make for unity, which must be an essential feature in such a project as one big union.’ W© regard the action of the promoters of the 4 0J8.U.’ in resorting to the campaign in the daily paper* as a most deplorable one iu view of the .fact that their membership throughout New Zealand is of very small dimensions having regard to the number of men in the service. The only' purpose it will serve will be to give the general public a false impression of the position and a tendency to stir up hatred amwig railwaymen themselves, a feature we ye sure the present Government has. no desire to withess. ” —(P.A.)