LABOUR DESPOTISM

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 10, 6 October 1917, Page 7

LABOUR DESPOTISM

THE "BLACK" DOCTRINE IN STRIKE TIME

A JUDGE SPEAKS OUT

In the New South Wales Industrial; Arbitration Court recently Mr. Justice" IJeydon, in a. reserved iudpient, on the" application of the- Colonial Sugar Refin- : ing Company, cancelled the registration of tho Fyrmont Sugar Works Employees' Union, and fined the union J!100 for tak-' ing part in and aiding and abetting a" . . ' . . ' i "In the circumstances," said His Honour, "as (o the application to cancel the registration of the union, 1 can do bothing but grant it. The first refusal (to work) by the carters was apparently beenuse the raw sugar on the wharf was' regarded as 'black,' and the .Eecond refusal by the union was because the labour which replaced the carters was also regarded as 'black.' The men alleged no grievance whatever of their own. The ■-•a«e illustrates well how (he 'black' doctrine causes every strike,to run through the community. A simple strike is like a. etono thrown on level ground which injure.-; where it hits, and there'is an end. But a strike, supplemented by the 'black' doctrine, is like a. stone loosened on a steep mountain side, which ends; in a destructive avalanche. In this establishment the onlarging effect w seen. Only four men struck at nret; but thoy were an essential cog in the watch; without them the works woul.i have to stop. But replacing .them .did no good, the new cog wns 'black, and the other wheels refused to go round. "Tho theory is capable of very extreme possibilities. The man whose duty it is U/open the front gate'of-a large factory refuses to do so because his employer has not granted some demand. Another man is put to do it, and the three or four thousand hands who are waitm* outside refuse to go through the /black rate Whether the gatekeepers demand was legitimate or not seems to have nothing to do with it; the light of each .roup of workers to paralyses whole_ establishment fieems to be:~ recnsniwd, and they are the sole judges of whether tw trill do so or not; or it any other body, hu the power or forbid such action, fhe members of that body must necessarily beoStion o-t the doctrine we see certaia of OTOperty, or ruin to the employer or faith with Australia, and the hmplie, and the lives of our boys at the tront. that ie nothing: the 'black' doctrine is a 1 acrid principle which, unionists, nn.s - no more infringe than the early Cbxv*;■ difference. The early Christian med-. rather than worship a false god Some, of the unionists, however, who sElike against winning coal or loading Iran.ports, are very far from dying. ihw eat 'black , meat arid ride on /black trams; they work alongside black lab--oS to wrn. money to help the strike. So the sacred principle.. » holy as lor.rt.fy trarine away Australia's shield that tne, Germns may stab her, dwiiidta do**, to a mere expediency-* weapon for winning the strike, to be used or not .'-6 occasion seems to call for it. "Let us, therefore, hear no more anneals to the great principles of unionism L istifying the infliction of widespread destruction, even starvation and death, a* coming before even loyalty to Ha t™ tho Empire, and to our brothera n the trenches. The holy W™>ip£ iurtnkfl into a common-placo desire to boat the Government; a resolution tomake- the Kailvay Commiwionere bit* upthe card system;.or, if *o swell u fo._ Itfl vnetest dimensions, it is an attempt it hU cSts to take the power of govern. Ins tho State out of the hands of Oiepeople and put it ii to the hands rt t-.e, 5n nominees. The* mw or m:iv v-i b" -desirable ends, but they hardly seem to iustifv shaking hands with the German Enipcror and murderer, any more than tne desire of the coal miners ofAustralia, for an interprefation of e ghfr hours which made it. less than eight ' hours, and for conditions "oVon to the price of coal justified their refusal to provide coal for transports. In both cases it ««m« to com» down to 'We'll ha»e what vi wont, and Australia can go hang."

The heaviest .anchors weigh about. 77cwt. The highest price per pouud f-ver paid for tea was at the Mincing Lane t«> auction, february 5, 1891, when a 5.b, parcel of "Golden Tip" 'io"> Ceylon was knocked down at £!l 10s. per pound.