TRADE UNIONS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 11, 2 October 1942, Page 5

TRADE UNIONS

PART IN WAR WORK

PREVENTION OF STOPPAGES

During the hearing of an appeal before the No. 2 Armed Forces Appeal Board, Hamilton, on behalf of E. A. Waters, union organiser J'or the building industry, Mr D. M. Martin, assistant secretary of the Auckland branch of the Amalgamated Socicty of Carpenters and Joiners, who was prosecuting the appeal, stated, that exemption from military duties for the reservist was in the interests of the nation as a whole. "It is not sufficiently recognised how vital a part the trade union movement is playing in the War effort 'to-day," he said. "There are ten workers behind every soldier, and most of these are trade unionists. Where workers are mass™ ed together it is necessary that they should be in a disciplined organisation. Inevitably (particularly where long hours produce frayed nerves and exhausted bodies) there arise grievances and complaints. Greater efficiency" is obtained where the workers are satisfied; the maximum war effort depends on removing the causes of minor discontents. It is the experience of this organisation that usually causes of dissatisfaction arc very easily remedied. Without a disciplined organisation, these discontents may easily grow to monstrous proportions and. cause real trouble. Although the trade union is blamed for a great deal it is not responsible for, experience shows that undisciplined stoppages of work arc continually being prevented by the trade union taking action to adjust the grievances of the workers by legal means. "The trade union movement is more concerned ithan any other section of the community with the defeat of Fascism to-day, because the workers would suffer more from Fascism than any oilier section of the nation, ft is the task of the trade union officials therefore to promote maximum Avar production, and to prevent whercever possible the holding-up of work. That is the function of the country organiser: to visit the jobs, and adjust complaints before they develop into dangerous situations. This is actually happening every day, without the general public being aware of it." 1