CAN A SERIOUS SPLIT BE AVOIDED?

Chronicle (Levin), 21 May 1949, Page 6

CAN A SERIOUS SPLIT BE AVOIDED?

Press Association)

(Per

WELLINGTON, May 20. Today was a topsy-turvy day at the Conference of the Federation of Labonr. ln a kind of ''oft'-again-on-again" way delegates swnng first against officialdom and in f'avour of the trouble-makers, and then reversed their earlier decision in a last-minnte return to a state of grace. To observers it was rather bewildering, but ■ again stringpulling was undonbtedly responsible. Yet the facts speak' for themselves. The conference, whatever strings were pnlled, stands' firmly against the "scab" earpenters' union.

It is a knotty problem that the Federation of Labour lias handed the MmIster of Labour (Mr McLagan).. That fact has beeu made very elear to-day as a result of the proceedings at the conference whieh by stieking to the traditional attitude of the industriul labour moveruent revealed that the word "scab" still has a special sigmficance. That the earpenters' union had rung the clianges on tliose who imagined that they were ridding themselves of Mr Stanley and tliose who support ed him was made clear last night. Just how signilicant their move had beeu. however, few foresaw so that when today they swung the whole conference behind them on the vital issue of reeognition of what Mr H. Barnes des cribed as the scab union, the officiah on the platform appeared to be eompletely surprised. Mr Barnes has corrie out of the conference undoubtedly a. the man of the hour. It was last Tuesday that lie read Jacs London's defmition of a seab, oue of th most powerful pieces of propagand writings in history. The impression h made then he alone apparently sav That impression remained, howeve and it turned the tables to-day. Tli conference, whieh all tlirough had sup ported evervthing that had been pri pos.ed by the platform speakers, suddenly swung round and voted to put a the resources of the federation and place its whole strength behind wh.\ . was termed the "bone fide" union. .1 : other words the conference disclosoi that down under there had been sowi i seeds of disruption, that in the ma s delegates who represented the massid trade unionists of Kew Zealand did n- i like the attitude of the Minister of Labour (Mr McLagan), and that inheren - ly they hated the thought of the nev earpenters' union being registered. T i them it was indeed what Mr Barnes had deseribed as a "scab" union. That there might be far-reaching re sults from their decision, that the Go ■ - ernment they reputedly supported niigl t be embarrassed, and that Mr McLagan be put in an unenviable position, they forgot. That word "scab" had dom: what lawyers' opinions had failed to dc, and lawyers' opinions have playtd an unusually large part in this year 's conference. In fact officials of the Federation might be said to have relied too heavily on legal adviee. It is Lrue they stilhd much of the discussion in the eariy

stages of the earpenters' dispute bj producing an opinion that the whole question was sub judice, but when they came this morning with still another legal opinion, this time confronting tne conference with what appeared to them seemingly as a fait accompli, the conference decided apparently to show who was master. The conference ignored the. legal opinion that notliing "could stop the new earpenters' union being registered, and flat-footedlv announced its detennination to oppose with all its strength sucli registration. To emphasise its temper it defeated a proposal that the national executive try to bring the jiarties together. The debate was very hot at tiiues,-aud tliose who wanted the new union registered. obviously beeause they dislikeu the fact that the old oue as headed by (Jonmiun ist Koy Stanley, recalled that the Waterside Workers' Union of to-day had its beginnings asa" scab ' ' union — af ter the 1913 strike. History in fact can be qevoted to suit almost any ends, and this was done to-day. The fact that at the end of the day there came another surprise and a vobe face with the conference voting by L'ti to 82 to delete from Mr Barnes 's onginal motion all the words after "scab union" so tha" the emasculatcd motion standing in the name of the conference read: "That under no circum stances will this conference recogThse the scab union" really did not altei the position. The Government is stili left in a jam. Jn addition of tlie fact. that over 30 delegates filed out in protest, among them all the waterside workers, earpenters and freezing workers' delegates, made it appear tnat the split whieh had earlier been avoided had now been ereated. Mr Barnes, the father of the morning 's resolution, had gone liome to Auckland and it appeared that advantage of this fact had been taken. In any case it remains to be seen whether the moderates really have achieved a victory. The Labour Conference opening to-morrow will be attended by many of the delegates who wallied out from the Federation Conference. There appears every likelihood that the whole cjuestion yvill be reopened at the Labour Party Conference whieh begins to-morrow. As Mr McLagan is responsible for the deregistration of the old union and for the promise to register the new one, there will be scope enough for raising the whole issue. If a split in the Federation has really been avoided the seeds of trouble have been sown for the Labour Party. Meantime, federation and conference busi ness is entirely disrupted. Remits have not even been reaclied, and if any setu blance of real unity has been retained it is obviously pretty tattered.