UNITY & STRIKES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1802, 15 July 1913, Page 5

UNITY & STRIKES.

-® ——; — POSMON. OF RAILWAYMEN. Following upon the decision of the executive of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants to withdraw from the Unity Congress, which sat recently in Wellington, Addington railway workers passed a resolution dissenting from the action of tlie executive. 1 A Dominion reporter had a conversation on| the subject yestorday with Mr. W. A. Veitch, M.P., who, although he is no longer president -of the A.S.R.S.. is <a life member of that society, and is in close touch with the leadiera of the railwiaymen. "All that 1 had been' ! before tiff-unions before tho "conference started," 6aid Mr. •Veitch, "was the basis of nnity.. Naturally all the trades union men wera anxious for, .unity, and the people who carried that resolution. in , Canterbury, no doubt, acted under a feeling of disappointment that unity had not f>een achieved. Possibly they were inclined to blame their leaders for this fact. I have not the slightest doubt that when the Addington railwaymen know the whole of the facts they will bo quite 'satisfied with the action of thedr Isadora at that conference. As a 'matter of fact, a. strike in the railway service would carry with it Buch disastrous rcfsnlts to the men themselves that, it would be madness to take the risk. It must be borne in mind that the constitution of the United Federation of Labour provides that .the whole powesr of'the organisation is to be at tho disposal of the executive if. necessary. If the railwaymen -accepted partnership in the_ organisation they • would bo in the position that they must go out on strike, if oalled upon by tho executive, even though they had no quarrel with their own employers, or take the very dishonourable course of refusing to conform to rules that they had agreed to accept. That being so, tho only honourable course Open to the executive of the A.S.RjS. was to leave the conference and refuse to allow themselves to be associated with n. movement which might at any time bring such a disaster upon them. 'The railwaymen," continued Mr. Veitch, "have worked hard for .years by means of political action, have been very successful in their efforts. They have succeeded in improving their working conditions very materially; yet tho whole coat to the country of nil the improvements in servico conditions that have been achieved is very much less tlum one week's strike would have cost the country. Tho propent position of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants is the strongest possible argument against the abandonment of political action in favour of other mcthodisl"

"Bad I,still been president of tho society," Mr. Veitch replied to another question. "I should have felt bound to do exactly the same thine as has been done by the present executive."