THE WAIHI STRIKE

West Coast Times, 14 June 1912, Page 3

THE WAIHI STRIKE

TELEGRAMS.

BIG SLAP AT FEDERATION. THE LEVY TURNED DOWN. [PEE PKESB ASSOCIATION.—COI’YIIICIII.] AUCKLAND, June 13. The ballot of the tramway employees on the question of a levy of 2s per week to assist the ’miners on strike resulted as follows; Against 226 For 197 Majority against 29 QUESTION OF HELPING THE STRIKERS.

FEDERATION’S LEGAL POSITION. >F,a PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIGHT.] WELLINGTON, June 13. Air. J. Glover, secretary of the Now Zealand Federation of Labour, to-day received tho following legal opinion from Mr. P. J. O’Regan, Attorney to the Federation : •

“In .answer to your enquiry this morning, I may say that 1 have noticed in the newspapers that certain unions, who arc hound by awards, have demurred in making a levy for the relief of the men at Waihi, on the grounds that, being, bound by the Arbitration Act, they would be guilty of an offence if they did so; I notice this opinion expressed rather emphatically quite recently in one of the Wellington newspapers, the Auckland correspondent of which regretted that “a strong Government” was not in office to punish the men who have “broken the law” at Waihi. This is quite in accord with tho standard of accuracy observed by the groat majority of the newspapers whore the actions of the working men ore at issue. Tho legal position is quite plain. A strike is< unlawful, only when tho strikers are bound by an award nr an industrial agreement. That is to say: when they are members of an industrial Union and consequently under tho jurisdictiot of the Court of Arbitration. The Waihi workers are not under tho jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration, and hence their strike is not an unlawful strike, consequently it is not an offence for any unions, whether hound by an award of the Court nr not, to donate funds for tho relief of the men on strike.