RAILWAYMEN & UNITY

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1862, 23 September 1913, Page 8

RAILWAYMEN & UNITY

CONGRESS.

REASONS FOR QUITTING.

CONFERENOE AN EYE-OPENER. Two executive councillors of the 'Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants recently addrcßsed the half-year-ly meeting of the Invercargill Branch, making interesting references to tho .Unity Oongresa.

Mr. Hutchins said that ho did not need to offer any excuao for tho action of tho A.S.K.S. dolegates in withdrawing from tho congress. They were not long in coming to a conclusion that the machinery of the congress was in tho hands of the Red Federation and their supporters, and Messrs. Hampton and jUTjaren's motion to give unions powej of internal government in connection with strikes had been turned down by a two-to-ono majority. To remain longer at the congress would have beon a wasto of the society's money. To railwaymen strikes wero altogether out of tho quostion, and to attempt to force upon members the' constitution of tha new organisation would mean the disruption of tho society, and the Government recognition would bo withdrawn from them. They had at present an organisation which for utility purposes was second to none in tho Dominion, and very few bodies of men had greater opportunities for bettering their position. They had the right to interview the Minister for Railways every three months, and it would be madness to forfeit all tho benefits which thej- now enjoyed and place their destinies in the hands of a few men in Wellington. Apart from the railwaymcn altogether, he was quite satisfied that the new organisation was not going to do any good to the workers as a whole.

Just a Sop. The political scction had been a sop thrown out to catch the unwary. What the workers required was an organisation that' would endeavour to obtain things within reach, and not one that kept looking up to the clouds. So long as tho latter course was followed there .would never be unity. Tho unfortunate part .was that the sane, moderate men were not as enthusiastic as the extremists, hence the reason for a majority of the . latter controlling the congress. That sort of thing should not be, and tho moderate men would have to wake up. Discussions an Eye-opener. Mr. Barnofct said that ho could endorse what Mr. Hutchins had said, and he now had. doubts as to what were the ideals, of tho supporters of the new organisation. ■ The discussions tat the congress were an eye-opener, and tho intention of the extremists was "war to the knife" with the employing class. There wore men among the employers Xvlio wero infinitely more, progressive •than many of the workers, and who had ,moro real. sympathy towards' Labour ■ideals. The "leaders'.of tho new organisation, with the possible exception of Mr. Tregear, who had committed a great blunder 'in joining it, were men whom the workers of the country would jiever follow. They might expel men from unions and create trouble in other directions, but their efforts would be nil to no purpose. Men who had been but a. short time in the Dominion, and who had done much less for .labour than Labour'had done for thepi, had the audacity to attack men of quality and standing in the movement,

Weakness of the Constitution. Mr. M. J. Forde, who was present by invitation, agreed with the action of tho railwaymen in withdrawing from the congress, and in the course of a fairly lengthy address, stated that it Was rather unfortunate for the new organisation . that before -the ink on the constitution, had hardly time to dry the Blackball miners had gone out on strike, and word still out. This was o, xoply to those who maintained that the new organisation would prevent sectional strikes.

>'Fight Revolutionaries Tooth and Nail."

In moving the adoption of the delegates' reports, .and that they be accorded a hearty vote of thanks, Mr. ,T. A.- B. Walker said that the railway delegates had done the right thing, and they should now nil do their level best to "counteract the influences of the extremists, and to fight them tooth and Hail. If they did not do this the bilious in this country would soon bo reduced to the deplorable state that existed among American unions, wheTo the life blood of the workers was being sucked from them. No efforts should be spared to defeat the promulgation of absurd and dangerous revolutionary doctrines.

That Strik9 In 1890. Mr. J. Walker seconded, and said that strikes could not bo countenanced in .this country. He referred to the disastrous strike of 1800, _in which the railwayman had been involved, which ho said had been organised by. tho Hon. J., A. Millar, '.'tile 'Bob Scrapie of that time." Tho result had been what it would: always be, tho workers had been badly beaten._ He instanced the different positions in which xailwaymen were pow in to what was the caso twenty yoarp ago, and 6a id that , tho satisfactory Tesult had been due to political influence. Political organisation was, what was necessary, and tho previous methods of industrial organisation amply sufficed.—"Railway Koviow." •