VICTIMISATION ALLEGED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 290, 6 December 1929, Page 9

VICTIMISATION ALLEGED

ADMISSION TO UNION WATERSIDERS’ REFUSAL [ Per Press Association ] CHRISTCHURCH, Dee. 5. Victimisation was alleged by Edward Gillard in a suit for £5O damages against members of thc committee of the Waterside Workers’ Union, Lyttelton, for loss of work owing to their refusal to permit him to become a member of thc Union. Gillard also moved for an order directing thc committee to admit him to membership. The case was in part heard at the Supreme Court to-day. It was alleged plaintiff first applied for membership on September 15, .1928, tendering the entrance fee of ss, thc half-yearly subscription (15s) and had repeated the application several times without success. For thc defence it was argued that the Union roll was limited to 700 members and there was no vacancy. Gillard alleged that thc number on the roll on thc date of application and on many subsequent dates had been below 700. Plaintiff in evidence said he had gone to law only after repeated refusals of admission to membership. Ho had been told that once he had a chance of admission but he never would be admitted if he went to law. For the defence John Flood, secretary of the Union, denied that Gillard tendered the proper fees when he applied for admission. The case has been adjourned till tomorrow.