WAREHOUSE WORKERS

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1216, 26 August 1911, Page 3

WAREHOUSE WORKERS

HOW A UNION IS FORMED. ) INTERESTING PROPAGANDA. PROTESTS. ALL BOOD. Throughout the whole-solo warehouses of (lie city there is but one topic of conversation—the Merchants' • Assistants' "Union. Behind the piles of blankets, quilts, and slieolings, among tho pols, pans, wire-netting, anil camp ovens, between the glittering glass eases of jewellery, and in the counting-houses, tho talk is of the new union, and mostly how to defeat its objects. There has 'probably never been a union formed in New Zealand whero the opposition among those it allegedly intends to benelit has been so obviously manifested. Meetings are being held nightly, and at each one resolutions are being carried against those present being forced' to enter the union's ranks, and not a little bitterness is being shown at unionism being thrust down th-3 workers' throats. ' 0110 warehouseman of standing states that the union was originally formed among a few storemen, who interested half-a-dozen juniors under 21 years of age. Having gone thus far, the idea of expansion seized on the promoters, and it grew until they—a couple of outsiders— decided to "spring n mine" by including all manner of warchouso workers. A Circular. ' How the arguments in favour of a union were put to the juniors; is aptly shown in tho following circular, which is marked "Private and confidential'':

"Fellow workers.-—We make an appeal to you .to assist in.building, up a strong association of shop and warehouse assistants in Wellington far tho protection of our mutual interests. On all sides we s;e our employers combining and federating, joining forc:s in business and association's. We see almost every profession, trade, and calling organised, and receiving the benefits of united cil'ort. ' We alone seem in the past to havo disregarded the writing on the wall, by remaining aloof and competing one with another for position and phce. We have been heedless of the powerful influence possessed'by the employers' combination to squeeze us on to tho lowest rung of the social ladder. Our labour and our value accurately guaged by our sales day by day and week by week until we arc entirely at the mercy of any more fortunate casual who comes along, and happens to make good for a week or two.

"The smaller employers are being squeezed out by the banks and larger firms, thus throwing more labour on 16 (ho market. The. day of the large department store, tho unlimited stock, the universal provider, is fast approaching. With this growth of combination conditions will of necessity become more severe, and wages be reduced. What protection have the workers in the shops and warehouses of Wellington? In their present unorganised condition they have none whatever. We see our turn out an organisation we will soon', feel tho pinch. We are forced to combine and defend ourselves, and we ask your assistance. Do not be misled by the idea that your position is safe because you have been many years in your present situation. Age is no protection from the pinch of profit. There is no sentiment in business. Younger men are coming forward. Jlcsi who arc mom alert; men with Homo and foreign experience, who in many cases work for Sower wages in order to got a foot: on tho ladder. You have no fay in the matter where no award or agreement exists.' You must, simply take what is offered or leave. "You have an opportunity now which many far-seeing men have wished and waited for. You now have a union workins quietly in Wellington. Its ranks are filling up- Sixty-two attended tho first meeting. Many of your shop-mates bavo already .joined. ~ -We "want no publicity. True uinonisnV dbes'nct''require to be shouted from the street earners and tho house-tops. Just sign an application form to-day, and get in. Don't have it said in after years that you grudged to assist tho Association, and took the benefit which others fought and paid for. We don't want your money particularly. Our contributions are the lowest of any in the Dominion. We want your assistance as an individual who recognises, that' unity is stronger than individualism. Remember that we . cannot do without you, as a chain has only the strength of its weakest link, audi whilst there remains ii single unorganised man in the shops, offices, and warehouses of Wellington our position is weak and pregnable. Sign an application form right now. Call at the office. . . . Ask your mate to join with you.—Yours sincerely, . "J. MJvti, President-. "G. G. I'AKLAND, Secretary." A Denial, Quite recently Mr. G. G. Farland, secretary of the union, mentioned that one firm had already given the increases in the form of bonuses, understood to have' been given on hearing of the formation of the union. This is given an emphatic denial by the firm concerned, ivho.se representative stales that these bonuses belong to a system'which has long been in force, and they happen to.have been bigger on the last distribution Tiecause of the good business done by the firm in Australia. It was a phase of profitsharing which was not adopted at the call of unionism or anything of the sort. It' would bo for tho firm to consider if this system would bo maintained, if a union, With its' harassments, interfered with tho business in any way.

Coercion. "This talk of coercion is 100 stupid for words!" said a well-known warehouseman when approached yesterday. "Tho only coercion that'.l can see is tho 5 per cent wishing to dominate the 95 per cent of the workers concerned." Mr. Farland informed another paper's representative that it was not intended to touch tho clerk in swelling tho ranks of the union—a "statement made after the clerics had met and entered an indignant protest at being dragged into tho union. In the circular above quoted it is staled: "Whilst thcro remains a single unorganised man in the shops, offices, and warehouses of Wellington our position is weak and pregnable." It has also been pointed out (list Rule i of the union says: "Any person (other than a driver) actually engaged as a wage-earner— manual or clerical—in connection, with the particular shops, offices, slorcs, and warehouses indicated in the tide of tho union, etc., etc." The Political Side. "Mr. Millar's reply to the union's deputation on Thursday is going to still'on up. the warehousemen politically," said another warehouseman. "I thought the Minister had more nous than to go oil' at half-cock like ho did. practically saying that we had no right (o object to a union. Wo do not lake much interest in politics as a class, and many don't lake the trouble to vole one way or (ho other, but this union business has galvanised them with some pnlilic.il frcling, which will make itself felt throughout thcUominion at the coming elections. When Mr. .Millar'fancied ho was gaining Mil) votes or so he was doing, nothing of tho kind., as most of (ho boys who had been deluded into joining the union are under 21 years of age, and havo no vole. On the'other hand, (here are between 30(10 and tOOn men in "Wellington alone with votes who are bitterly opposed to tlio union, and it will not be tho Government candidates who will get those votes. It will be (he 5.11110 all over Xcw Zealand, fake my word for il!" The secretary of (he union,' Mr. 0. 0. Farland, has issued a circular, which reads as follows:— "A petition demanding n special meeting of soft goods salesmen has been bander! inlo (he oxecutivo of the above union. This meeting is called for juniors and apprentices onlv, whether members of the union or not. in order to answer various mislendiug stilcmen(s that have appeared in tho pre,"."