STRIKE FROM FIRST TO LAST.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1916, 26 November 1913, Page 8

STRIKE FROM FIRST TO LAST.

EMPLOYERS' REVIEW,MEN THAT THEY WILL STAND BY. NO MORE DESPOTISM, The Employers', Farmers', and Citizens' Defence Committco lias issued the following statement, for public information :— Tho striko of tho Wellington Waterside AVorkers' Union is now in its fifth week. It has directly .and indirectly involved somo thousands of workers in almost every part of tho Dominion, who may bo divided into: (1) Those who deliberately struck out of sympathy with tho Wellington Waterside "Workers' Union; (2) those who have involuntarily become unemployed. Many of tho workers who deliberately struck have gone back to work: but others through lack of raw material to work upon, the delay in the dispatch of manufactured goods, or other causes over which tliey and their employer-': had 110 control, are still eompulsorily idle, although, having taken 110 acn-'o part in the strike.

Pretext for Ihc Strike. Lest it bo forgotten The pretext for tlie strike by the Waterside Workers Union was that while many of its members were absent from work nt n stop-work meeting, other members .lithe union being availablo for encasement at the appointed time, were put on to work which the* absent, members were-,engaged upon the previous day. The stop-work meeting referred lo ivas hut Din last of a series of breaches <,'f the agreement oi" .Uuiuaiv 17, lfHi!, made between the waterside workers and their employers, and si"is"d bv Messrs. It. Scrapie, P. 0. Webb, ,) Glover, executive of (he Federation of Labour; and also by officers for l!io time being of (he Wellington Waterside Workers' Union. Having resolved lo strike, th- Wei liugtou Waterside Workers' Union senilis identity, banding over I he whole of the strike negotiations to the er.ccntiv G of the federation of Labour, Thit .body, rejected nil offers made Dy tie

employers for a settlement of tho 'strike, hut- subsequently, when too late, signified its willingness to accept certain portions of tho employers' terms. Ths General Gail, Tlie executive of tlie Federation of Labour then ordered out all unions affiliated io it, and next all unaffiliated unions were urged to -strike in pursuance of the Federation's doctrine H"'k, i"i lis '. v to one is nn injury to all." The response of the unaffiliated unions was but- partial, and the members oi many of them have returned to work, including members of the "Wellington Waterside Workers' Union Through tho action of the Federation the strike bceamo widespread in New Zealand, ajid lias been oxtentled t-o Australia in sonic measure by creatine hostility of waterside workers end" sea" men to New Zealand shipping tradin" to and from tin; Commonwealth. Tho Employers', Farmers', and Citizens' Defence Committee, representing both .producers' ajud consumers' interests repeats that tho sole responsibility for the existing industrial crisis in 'NewZealand rests with tho Wellington Waterside Workers' Union, acting at the behest- of tho executive of' the federation of Labour.

The Written and Spoken Word. . Ihcio being no reliance to be placed in tiie written or spoken word of'the Federation of Labour, the executive of which, together with officers of the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union were signatories to the above-mentioned agreement, the Employers', Farmers' aiul Citizens' Del once Committee was compelled to meet tho circumstances that arose out of the strike, and is now committed to stand by and for tho new Wellington Waterside Workers' Union duly registered under the provisions of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The employers are trot opposed to organised labour as such, but they do ami will most' strenuously resist the despotism of the Exeeutivo of the Federation of Labour, a bodv which has attempted to subject- all employers to that arrogant terrorism which it exercised over members of any union which jt controlled who ventured to differ irom it in its application of its principles and methods..

rrom tho outset- of the strike, it ws made quite dear that the Federation sought to re-establish in the capital City, but on a larger, ino.ro extensivo sc.lle, that s\ stem of intimidation and tyranny that it introduced into Wailii, and winch had there to be rigorously suppressed bv the jolicc. In the furthcranco of its ambitions in AVoHincton, the Executive of the Federation of Labour was aided by willing .helpers, who were members of tiie Waterside Workers; Union; but the Employers' Fanners', and Citizens' Defence Committee has reason to believe that a large proportion of the members of tho Wellington Waterside Workers' .Union, while obeying the peremptory orders of the .federation to strike, was nevertheless opposed to its dictatorial suggestions or commands, and neither approved nor acted upon them.

New Unions Open. The Employers', Farmers', and Citizens'' Defence' Committco cannot treat, with the Executive of tho Federation r lbo "v™';« th ofr,PCrs or members ol the old Wellington Waterside Workoi s Union with a view to a- settlement ol tlie strike. The Union of Wellington Waterside Workers, registered tinder.the Arbitration, Act, now in existence, numbers over one thousand mernuers, of whom 75 per cent, have expressed their intention of reinainin tr at work ui the- port. > That tmion ift open to members of the old' union to joinand lot) members of the old union have joined it, ami are at work in the port JHKier exactly tho same conditions as to hours of work and rates of par as wore secured under tho agreement'of January 1", 1912, and which no longer exists. Tho new Drivers' Union is also open to members of the old union to

The, Government lias now completed arrangements for the ample protection ot members of tho view or Arbitration unions of waterside workers and driver? in Wellington, who aro at work, and has extended that protection to their families and their homes, and will continue to do so so long as the necessity' exists.