CAUSES OF THE STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1902, 10 November 1913, Page 5

CAUSES OF THE STRIKE.

SITUATION REVIEWED.

STATEMENT BY SIR JAMES MJUS, UNION'S RESPONSIBILITY. POSITION OF. UNION COMPANY'S SERVICES. The misleading statements put in circulation by tho officials of the Federation of Labaur were traversed by Sir James Mills, managing director of tho Union Company, 011 Friday. Sir James Mills referred particularly to the assertions that the present trouble was duo to a lock-out of tho waterside workers by the shipping companies: also that it was part of a carefully laid scheme to crush trade unionism. These statements, he said, had been clearly repudiated by the Citizens' Defence Committee, but it was as well that he should reiterate the incidents out of which tho strike originated. The facts were that a, dispute arose between the Shipwrights' Union and the employers in connection with demands for increased pay, etc. —a small matter, he added, which should have been capable of adjustment after full discussion, and, if necessary, a reference to an independent authority to bring about ail equitable settlement. The shipwrights, however, merged their union into the Waterside Workers' Union, and the latter body decided to take up the dispute, and arranged to hold a meeting to consider what course they should adopt, about it. Instead of holding this meeting in their own time, the waterside workers' elected to call a "stop-work" meeting after 8 o'clock in tho morning. 'Tho union, however, notwithstanding that tho employers protested that this would be a flagrant breach of the agree* ment, insisted; but intimateS to employers that the men would turn up between 7.45 a.m. and 8 a.m., so that their names could be taken down for work immediately after the meeting was over. This promise they failed to make good. Union Men Withdrawn. "The men did not turn vip, so that when they straggled back to work after the meeting, it was a case of "first come, first served," and other members of the union wore taken on to the various jobs—not outsiders as lias beeii stated—and as it happened some of tho men who had been at work the night before were not reinstated on the jobs they had left. The executive of the union demanded that all men who had been at work tho night before should be reinstated 011 the 'same jobs, and that tlie substitutes engaged should be dismissed. This the companies declined to do, and the executive forthwith withdrew all labour from tho ships itt port. This applied not only to the ships of the Union Company, but also to those of the oversea companies which were at work.

"it is dear, therefore," continued Sir James, 'that the trouble did not arise from a lock-out as the public arc asked to believOj bat from a deliberate withdrawal of labour by the union executive. Notv, this was clearly in defiance of Clause 28 of the agreement which provides: "That in case of any dispute arising-work is not'to bo stopped, but the dispute shall be referred to a committee to bo-composed of three repre* SMitatives of tho union, and three representatives of tho employers for their decision; tho decision of the ma-

iority to be binding, and if no decision is arrived at an independent person is to be chosen, and if his decision is not acceptable, thon tho matter is to, bo referred, for further negotiation to the Federation of Labour and the employers concerned.' This is. surely clear enough, and ■ a perfectly reasonable and equitable arrangement; indeed, this yery clause was the inducement offered to shipping companies to enter into the agreement two years ago tuvd-er the auspices of tlie Federation of Labour. Attempt to Paralyse Trade. "Now, it is evident that t-lio Federation of Labour has signally failed to carry out this undertaking," said Sir James Mills. "Oil the'contrary, instead of persuading the local workers to return to work, tfr as an alternative, endeavouring to confine tho strike to this part alone, the Federation-has extended tJie area of trouble by withdrawing labour at other ports and. doing its _ best to paralyse trade' and inflict injury not only -upon employers and producers throughout tho Dominion, but upon larse bodies of workers who have nothing' to do with tho dispute. Under these circumstances is it a matter for surprise tliat employers are not propared to accept the guarantee of tho Federation again?

"As regards tho statement that_ an attempt is being made to'crash unionism, mis," Sir James Mills remarked, "is absurd and is merely a revival of an old cry; as a matter of fact, all large employers recagniso that their interests are best served by workers being organised so that conditions of labour tnay bo properly regulated, and that there may be some assurance that all employers shall bo placed on the same footing. "By their precipitate'' action in extending the area of strike, the Federation find themselves in this position: that- instead of the dispute being one merely ■ with the shipping _ companies alone, they /have, created a dispute mlh tho employers and producers throughout the Dominion and have raised such a storm of public opinion against themselves that tho direction of all proceedings in connection with the trouble has passed out of the hands of the shipping companies, aud the producers have made the quarrel theirs, so that it is out of the power of the shipping companies to deal witli tho matter alone.

"I need hardly say," Sir James Mills concluded, "that the dislocation of the company's services is a matter of great regret, olid involves 'a serious loss both to the public and to the company, but it is a position which lias, been forced upon us. There is good hope that it may be possible to resume many of our services at a very early date, as there is reason to behove that a number of our seamen and firemen will abide by the agreement now current between the Seamen's Union and the shipping companies." 1 Sir James- Mills stated in conclusion that the company recognised that it was of tho utmost importance to keep the Welliiigtoii-Lytteltoii ferry service going, and at the moment there was a good prospect of being able to do this. It had been very gratifying to the company to have received the spontaneous assurance of tho loyalty of its masters, officers, and engineers, and the generous offer of the and officers to give the company their help in any department, "and I am glad to have the opportunity of publicly ncknowledging it," added the managing director.