TRADES AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 20

TRADES AND LABOUR NOTES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.)

UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK » pt s mb */ 24—Painters; Brickn&EEZ* £ w ! a ? d Te »egrapn Employees. Th£rt& S |P t ? nb t r 25.—Stonemasons. «2&Ki. B lP t * mb ¥. 28.—numbers' Edu♦f~? n ai: Enginedrivers; Belated PrlnSocial. : T^"nw *y m «» Seml-JubUec THE COURT. aw"!?* I*'*1 *'* * nd employers are reminded that the Arbitration Court open* at the Supreme Court buildings on Tuesday next, September 25, at 10 a.m. VESTED INTERESTS CONSIDERED. In the early days of unionism in the Dominion it was a common thing for employers to require their employees to deal off them in the matter of groceries and stores, when the amounts owing for goods were deducted from wage* accruing on pay day. The prices charged for goods were not always "cut prices," but were fairly high, compared with the market rates. This led to evils of extortion that were coped with by the (enactment of the Truck Act, under the provisions of which the wages of a worker were to be paid to him by the employer without deduction and this has ruled ever since. Now, in these enlightened days, an instance has cropped up at the Trades Hall, which goes to indicate that there are employers who may be termed "throw-backs" to a former generation. A worker in one of the country districts writes to his union secretary at the Auckland Trades Hall, notifying him that he has received the following letter from his employer:—"With the object of giving a fair deal all round, and in the interests of all amployeea, it has been decided that the conditions of your remaining in the company's employment wiH be: (1) You will be required to board at the cookhouse which the company has provided to meet the requirements of certain employees, of whom you are one; (2) as an alternative you may obtain meals elsewhere, provided they are not . repared or taken into the company's whares, on condition that you have deducted from your wages the sum of 5/ weekly by way of rent, whether you occupy it or not. If you fail to comply with either of the above conditions by September 17, you will have to be prepared to make way for a man who will." The writer of the letter of complaint has formed his own conclusions about the ultimatum, for he concludes: "It seems to me that the mantle of the Czar has fallen on the shoulders of the boss in this locality. . . And yet, we are asked to keep on singing, 'Britons Never Shall be Slaves.'" AUCKLAND ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS UNION. The Auckland tramwaymen are preparing a big celebration for the coming week, during which the annual conference of the New Zealand Federation of Tramway Unions is to be held in Auckland. At this conference, every tramway organisation in the Dominion will be represented, and delegates will consider a rather comprehensive order paper. Rather an interesting visitor at the conference will be Mr. J. Abfalter, president of the Australian Tramwaymen's Association, who is renewing his acquaintance with Auckland after many years' absence in Australia. Twenty years ago, Mr. Abfalter was a conductor on the Auckland electric trams, and, as a sprinter, always figured prominently at the union's annual sports and other functions. He left for Australia to have a larger field for his energies, and, I think, took a position in the Victorian or South Australian tramways. Shortly after he became an official of the tramway union of which he was a member, and now he is revisiting Auckland as president of the Federation of Australian Tramwaymen. The federation conference opens on Wednesday next. A SEMI-JUBILEE. The Auckland Tramway Union is taking advantage of the annual conference of the New Zealand Tfamwayonen's Federation in Auckland next week of noting the fact that as a union, it has been _ established 25 years. The horse traction on the Auckland tramways system was superseded by electric traction in the latter end of 1902, and shortly after the start, a union was formed by the employees. There had been several unions formed during the period in which horse traction reigned; in fact. I have before me an old ledger dated 1900, in which the contributions in detail from 112 members are recorded. I notice that the initiation fee was 1/ and the weekly contribution 3d, and a glance at the names reminds one that a few of these members are still in the service, although perhaps in slightly altered positions. But that union went out with horse traction, and the present union was the outcome in 1903. Mr. W. G. Basset, who is still a citizen of Auckland, reformed the union as an electric tramways union, but his guidance as secretary was cut short by having to remove to Christchurch to a better position there. So he approached the writer to take up the vacant position, a*nd I was appointed secretary on April 1, 1904. ' When Mr. Basset handed over the books and cash, he handed me a credit balance of 14/8. Now, after 25 years of struggles for better conditions, all of them more or less costly to the union, the credit stands at over £4000 in property and cash. And those struggles were strenuous and constant. One trial of a motorman on a charge of manslaughter, when the law governing the accidental death of a passenger by a car, was not so clearly defined as it is now, cost the union the sum of f 105, which included the defence of the motorman and payment of his fine of £25. Eight years the writer held the position of secretary of one of the most militant unions that Auckland has ever known, during which the tramway strikes of 1906 and 1908 took place. The first was when Mr. P. M. Hansen was manager, and lasted four hours. The latter was a few months after the arrival of the late Mr. J. J. Walklate as manager, and the trams were held up for four days, and in both cases the union won. Other reforms fought for were for: Power brakes, glass fronts, seats for motormen when driving, full eight-hours' work for all workers, including spare men and many other betterments. When the' union started the spare-list men occupied an invidious positoin. They reported twice a day, early, morning and 2 p.m.. They were paid for work done (actual time of car running), some they did not get a run and they got no wages for that day. On one occasion the writer introduced a deputation of spare-list men to the manager on this grievance. Seventeen men were present and the average wage earned lor the previous week was £1

5/ per man. The management had a pernicious system of what was called "week-end reporting'.*' So long as they were willing to man the cam on Sundays, Saturday afternoons and holidays for rash traffic, a man could put his name on the list for week-end reports, and work at another occupation for the rest of the week. At one time it was found that one of the permanent gunners at Fort Cautley was on a weekend report, for he could get his Sundays and Saturdays off from the fort and worked as a tramway motorman during his holiday or "holy-day" at extra time. But the union altered all this. In 1012 the writer was succeeded by the late Mr. H. Carter as secretary, who occupied the position until he died. Since then Mr. P. Fraser and Mr. A. Barnes have held the position, until Mr. J. Liddell succeeded them and holds the position at the present time. To mark the semi-jubilee of the union it has been arranged to hold socials at the Trades Hall on Thursday evening next and on Monday, October 1. By this means both shifts will be able to attend, as when one shift is celebrating, the other shift has to keep the wheels of traffic revolving.