Trinity Of Troubles Face The N.Z. Federation Of Labour

Wanganui Chronicle, 16 February 1949, Page 6

Trinity Of Troubles Face The N.Z. Federation Of Labour

Defence, The Wages Spiral, Affiliation With World Trade Union Body WELLINGTON, Last Night (PA). —National defence was discussed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, when he addressed the National Council of the New Zealand Federation of Labour today. Mr. Fraser last addressed the council on this subject just before his departure for the recent conference of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers in London. At that time the council deferred decision on its attitude on national service until the return of Mr. Fraser from London.

Mr. Fraser spoke on defence subjects today, but no decision on policy was made by the council. The meeting will continue tomorrow. At its special conference, which opened this morning at the Wellington Trades Hall, the national council of the New Zealand Federation of Labour is considering a trinity of troubles in a three-day session, reports the “Evening Post.” They are the question of withdrawal from the World Federation of Trade Unions, the wages policy of the national executive of the Federation of Labour, and peacetime military conscription. The first: Whether the federation should maintain its affiliation to the World Federation of Trade Unions, as a result of the action of the British Trade Union Council and the American Congress of Industrial Organisations in withdrawing from the executive of the industrial international, on the ground that it was serving merely as an instrument of the foreign policy of Soviet Russia. The second: Controversy concerning the wages policy followed by the national executive of the Federation of Labour. Three members of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union are on the federation council, and the national vice-president of the union (Mr. Alexander Drennan) is presenting to the council resolutions adopted by three branches of the union expressing no confidence in the federation executive. The third: Peacetime military conscription. It was before the federation council on the eve of the departuie of the Prime Minister (Mr. Frasr) for the London conference and Europe and North America. At the request of Mr. Fraser, the federation council consented to defer a decision on the question until he returned to New Zealand and had the opportunity of reporting to the industrial Labour movement, as well as the public, on the international situation. PRESSURE WITHSTOOD. Much criicism of the federation council was organised by militant union officials, who had expressed their hostility to peacetime military conscription. In turn, the federation executive withstood considerable pressure by the militants to make it call an immediate conference to decide the issue, in the absence of Mr. Fraser.

An organised attempt is being made to have the federation council repudiate the attitude of the British Trade Union Council and the American Congress of Industrial Organisations, as well as the American Federation of Labour, by maintaining the affiliation to the World Federation of Trade Unions.

The moderates are increasingly favouring a cancellation of the affiliation, for the reason that they regard the World Federation of Trade Unions as a Communist instrument, and the militants, with Communists among their numbers, are resisting cancellation. On the eve of today’s discussions, the militants have received some support from overseas. A leading Communist, Mr. J. Healy, who is secretary of the Australian Waterside Workers' Federation, has denounced the attitude of the British Trade Union Council and the American Congress of Industrial Organisations, and has stated that there will be an effort to have the Australian Council of Trade Unions maintain its affiliation to the World Federation of Trade Unions. LINE FROM MR. BRIDGES. The president of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Association, of San Francisco (Mr. Harry Bridges) has notified the waterside workers’ organisations in Australia and New Zealand that, if necessary, his union will try to remain an affiliation of the World Federation of Trade Unions, despite the withdrawal of the American Congress of Industrial Organisations. Militant officials in New Zealand and Australia have lately indicated that they migktattempt to follow -he lead of Mr. Bridges, should the organised trade union movement cancel the general affiliation. Some moderate officials predict that the final decision may be left to the annual conference of the Federation of Labour, to be held in Wellington in a few weeks’ time. Moderates incrasingly believe taht the general conference would support an alliance with the British, American, and Western European industrial Labour movements, with the strong possioility of an early creation of an industrial international without Communist trappings. No less than in Britain, the United States, Western Europe, and Australia, the political Labour movement in New Zealand is attaching more importance, from a long-term view to the trade union decision on its international affiliation than it is to the more immediate and domestic issues of wages and peacetime conscription.