ANGRY UNIONISTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1048, 10 February 1911, Page 8

ANGRY UNIONISTS.

TRADES COUNCIL AS A "BEAR GARDEN." 1 POSITION OF MR: JI'LiREN, M.P. From information received at The Dominion office, it appcars.thnt last night's meeting of the Wellington .Trades and Labour Council (from whoso deliberations tho representatives of'the "capitalistic press" are still excluded) was not entirely peaceful. Messrs. J. Dowdall and •P. C. Green, members of the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union; called at this offico and told tho following story:At a meeting of the Wellington- Waterside Workers' .Union, last Tuesday evening, for the half-yearly election,of delegates to the Trades and Labour Council, the nomination of Mr. D. M'Laren, M.P., was objected to. .Rales i and '5 were quoted- to .show . that -he was. ineligible, as.ho had not been engaged at-work on tho wharf forn considerable time. Rule 4 states that any. member who leaves the wharf and takes up other employment shall not. be nllowed/to. speak-or vote nt any meeting of'the union; if he his been absent from wharf, employment for not less than six months. '■ On these grounds. Mr. M'Laren's nomination:.was rejected by 45 votes to, 5. '..The election proceeded, and the following six delegates were ohosen to'- represent .tho union:— Messrs. P. C. Green, J. Dowdall. W. Con-, noil, — Forth. T. Smith . (secretary), and G. Farland (assistant-secre-tary). : The secretary wrato to the Trades and Labour Council notifying the result of tho election and naming tho delegates. Action of the President. '•• The six delegates presented: themselves at the meeting of. the council last night, but Mr. M'Laren. who was also there, got up and asked leave to make a statement. TTe then said that the nicotine of tho Waterside Workers' Union last" Tuesday .was'illegal. He:had been "ad-j vised by his lawyer that tho meeting, in rojecting his nomination on the grounds put forward, had -interfered -with his lights-as a unionist, and-was therefore illegal. Ho accordingly j proposed, to. attend the council, as heretofore, in the rinncity of n delegate from tho .Waterside Workers' Union. ■'•..•.•.; pmpc of the delcsnfes anpoihted hy last Tuesday's nvetfng wished- to speak, bnt the president (Mr. E. '.T.'Carey) refund tn hear any explanation frnm the olh»r side, although some of the.delesates had' c «t as such nn the rnii'ticil 'fnr- the last half-year. . The present '.further st.it/-d that, in the face of Mr. MTjaren's statement, he could not'accent 'the credenfinls of the six d°le?ates. and. he refused to' nut the matter to the vote or even allow it to be discussed. ''.','.' " ■"I j, ' Aliened' Irrenularitios: "Orfr union is disfranchised'by this action, of tho'president of,the Trades Council," said Mr. Dowdall. "He allows us no right to make ourselves heard, and therefore we are forced to'seek an-op-portunity' of stating the ; position: in the columns of the press;' The .matter is one which concerns all the .trades unions in New Zealand. Mr..'M'Laren does not represent the waterside'; .-.workers. -In every dispute he has advised them to accept the employers' conditions, which may bo very'right from tho.capitalist's point of view,, but certainly no£ from the wage slave's point of view." , .. . , "Pandemonium." ' ' , iMr.. Green endorsed the'sattements o{ Mr. Dowdall; and added: "Several members of the Trades and; Labour Council resented ;the hish-handed attitude"- taken up by,the president fo-niftht.' and-1 myself as-an-officer'of the largest union in Wellington resent it. • Ho is standing as. a- candidate -for the; City. Counoil, but is it likely, that the rat-en.ayers. w.ill-blect~a man -who will :condemn .people withdiV■hearing both sides of the case?" ' Mr. Green added that the scene at the Trades Council; when Mr. Carey refused to have any discussion on his.ruling, was ■"quite a pandemonium." For; a wh'M--the place wa's "like:'a bear -garden." He and Mr. Dowdall had come to -Tiie Dominion because the local Labour organ did not give unionists .an adequate idea, of what went oniwithin tho Trades Coun-' eili , ; ....... -. .'