BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1947 THIS FREEDOM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 98, 14 November 1947, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1947 THIS FREEDOM

By 37 votes to 32, the House of Representatives has rejected an Opposition amendment to the Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill which sought to ensure that no member of the P. and T. Association should be required to contribute to the funds of any political party unless he had agreed in writing to do so. Our district Member, Mr W. Sullivan, in the second reading debate on the Bill, voiced strong objection to the clause providing for compulsory membership of all P. and T. employees in the P. and T. Employees’ Association and Officers’ Guild.

Both matters are bound up with the general principle of compulsory unionism. Mr Sullivan asked if the Minister in charge of the Bill would give the 15,000 workers concerned the right to decide by secret ballot whether they wanted compulsion or not. He thought they would not, and he is probably right.

all the workers of this country had the chance at the last general election to decide by secret ballot whether they wanted compulsion or not. It was generally known that was' the Government’s policy. What the electors had to decide was whether they wanted freedom of enterprise, freedom to' make their own bargains with their employers "on a man-to-man basis, or the somewhat questionable security of compulsory unionism, fettered industry and collective bargaining- under a system in which the individual worker usually seems to get very little say. Results of the election, compared with previous ones, suggested that New Zealanders generally were finding the iron fist of compulsion and control just a little heavy. The Government would be well advised to study the figures and accept them as a warning that a very large section of the workers is beginning to wonder seriously whether the Labour label is a sufficient guarantee of security, or whether the limited security the worker now has is worth the sacrifice in liberty he has - made for it.

While many things the Government has done are to be commended, few New Zealanders will endorse any interference with the liberty of the individual, and, though there may be arguments in its favour, compulsory unionism stands condemned in the minds of freedomloving citizens merely because it is compulsory. That unionism itself can be a good thing that has done much good in achieving better conditions for-work-ers will be readily admitted by most, but there will be strong support for the National Party’s opposition to the conscription of workers into unions.

As regards the contribution of funds to political parties, that is a matter that should have been provided against in the rules of every union when unionism became compulsory. Even by vote of a majority, it should not be permissible for a union to give way money compulsorily wrung from conscripted members to support any party whatsoever, because it is absolutely certain that no one party could have the unanimous support of any group of workers who had been bulldozed into such organisations.