STATE MINERS ARE INDIGNANT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 290, 8 December 1939, Page 8

STATE MINERS ARE INDIGNANT

OBJECTION TO A MOTION WEST COAST TRADES AND LABOUR COUNCIL ATTITUDE TO THE WAR [ Ter Tress Association J GREYMOUTH, Dec. 7. The State Miners’ Union, at a general meeting, on the motion of the president and vice-president, passed unanimously the following resolution:— “That wp, as an organisation, emphatically disassociate ourj selves from the seditious and mis chievous resolution arrived at by ; the West Coast Trades and Labour Council at its meeting on I November 25, and since published I in the Press. Furthermore, that until the motion in question is rescinded and expunged from the minute book of the council, we refrain from representation at any future meeting.’’

The resolution of the council to which the union objects stated: “That the Trades Council, repre- ! sentative of organised workers of ; the West Coast, recognising that the I war in Europe is another Imperialist struggle for markets and raw ' material, between Capitalist Britain ) and France on the one side, and I Capitalist Germany on the other, which may involve the whole world, with accompanying slaughter of millions of workmen, calls on the Government to make public the reasons for which New Zealanders are expected to fight and to give a definite assurance in keeping with the oft-repeated statement that no attempt will be made to introduce conscription in this country. Further, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Federation of Labour with a demand that an emergency conference of the federation be called without delay to formulate a policy in connection with the war and resist the encroachments on our liberties and standard of living. Mr. George English, president of the State Miners’ Union, said that the decision of the Trades and Labour Council might lead the public to believe it had the support of a majority of workers on the West Coast. The voting ar the Tracies and Labour Council «-s eight for and eight against, the eight supporters of the resolution including the president, Mr. J. Doyle, who besict's exercising his deliberate vote, gave also a casting vote for the motion. The statement that the council represents the workers of the West Coast is correct, but not, in my opinion, is it correct to state that the resolution is t-\- opinion of a majority of those workers.”