LABOUR CONGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1539, 7 September 1912, Page 5

LABOUR CONGRESS.

Insurance act complaints. ,By Toleffraph-Press AsspclaUonfOopyriclit . (Rec. September G, 11.25 p.m.) ■ . London, September C. The trades unions are alarmed at their' inability to. compete against tho great insurance societies in enrolling members under the National Insurance Act. There are 13,00.0,000 insured workers, and the companies have already secured 0,500,000. • ' Mr. John Ward, Labour M.F. for Stoke-on-Tront, in speaking at the Nowport Trades Union Congress, said the unionists were cajoled and intimidated into joining the companies. ■ '_ The congress resolved to , inquire into .'an alleged conspiracy between the companies and the employers. " Other members denounced' insurance as a curse to casual workers.' Mr. Ramsay' Mac Donald, Leader of the Labour party, is pleading for more generous treatment of tho party by Labour critics. The party's path was difficult, as it had to tread between the Liberal morass on'the ohe hand and the /wild beast on tho'other. COMPULSORY , ARBITRATION. ; London, September 5. Mr/'Tilletf s resolution,. proposing an Inquiry regarding . the Government's powers and prospective action in connection with compulsory arbitration, was rejected. Opponents of the proposal feared that the adoption of the resolution might be interpreted as ai. acceptance of the principle of compulsion.