Shearers' Union.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 2008, 22 December 1886, Page 2

Shearers' Union.

A very strong Union has been formed in Australia among those men who every year devote themselves to sheep shearing, in order to regulate the price for their work. It has been resolved to raise or lower the price for shearing in accordance with the rise or fall of the wool market, and a general and systematic canvas throughout the Austrolian colonies has resulted in some thousands of names having been given in as members of the Union, the annual subscription to which is 5s per year. In order to resist any attempt to lower the price for shearing the Union guarantees to recoup its members for any loss sustained through having to refuse work where the station holders hold out against what these men allege to be a fair price During the present shearing agents of the Australian Union have been working in the North and South Islands of this colony on the various stations and have secured some hundreds of members, and there appears to be a strong feeling among the men here in favor of pricing the shearing according to the wool market. Next March a meeting of shearers in the Wairarapa district is to be held at Masterton, when steps will be taken to further the interests of the members. From what we can gather the men in this district have not banded themselves together to raise the price paid by the majority of the station holders, but more to prevent a few of the station holders from getting their shearing done for half a crown lower than current rates. The men consider that such a reduction is an injustice to themselves and also to those who are willing to pay a fair price. Throughout the Lower Valley this season the pay has been 20s per 100, with the exception, we are told, of three places.