THE A.P.U.

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 12, 9 October 1917, Page 8

THE A.P.U.

BIJCOM3IENDATION TO STRIKE. In the "llaoriland Workor" of September 26 a column of tho Couutry Workers' page is devoted to a manifesto issued over the signatures of tho president, vieeprusident, and secretary, to tlie members of tlie crossbred organisation knows as tho A.P.U. Tho manifesto (says tho ".Fanners' Union Advocate") boasts of the "long and persistent efforts to secure improvements in the rates of pay and conditions lor tho ensuing season," and warns members that they must not cease work or strike after having entered into an agreement on tho following rates of pay:-

Shcaring, .£1 7s. 6d. per hundred; if not found, £1 lis. Kd.; wool rollers and pressers, £2 12s. Cd. per week, or Is. 6d. per hour; otlfar shed Hands, ,£2 10s. per week, or Is. sd. per hour; cooks, J;3 10s. per week; assistant cooks, £2 10s. por week. Though the A.P.U. has the remarkable audacity to issue suoh a manifesto, no one industrial agreement has been made with that organisation, and the shearers probably know well enough thnt the A.P.U. did all it .possibly could to prevent tho shearers from making an agreement with, tlie sheepowters, and only for the action of the sheepowners in citing the shearers, no such satisfactory agreement would have been in existence to-day. It is truo that some of the repVesentatives appointed by the shearers' unions are also otficials of the A.P.U., but ns such they had absolutely no voice in the proceedings. The secretary of tlie Shearers' Union, who is secretary of tho A.P.U., assured the Conciliation Council that he as officer of both organisations would do his best to have the agreement faithfully carried out, and tho manifesto is. one of the methods to which he has signified approval by attaching his signature. If that were all we would not bother ourselves to notice it, but right underneath the manifesto referred to is placed a set of rules to which the attention of the members of the A.P.U. is drawn, and in which the'following recommendation occurs:—"That it be a recommendation that all shed representatives and members of the A.P.U. generally refuse to commence to work until all hands, including the cook, agree to become inembors of the A.l'.U."

The "Worker" does not indicate who is responsible for the issue of that recommendation, but we have no hesitation in stigmatising it as a barefaced incitement to a strike. The fact that the A.P.U. is not a party to tho award absolves that organisation from the accusation that a breach has been committed, and apparently tho knowledge that the A.P.U! is beyond the reach of the law as far as the Arbitration Court is concerned, his made it bold to the point of the highwayman. Tho effectiveness of tho recommoftdation must, of course, depend upon the recklessness of its members in tho shearing sheds, aud upon the apathy displayed by the eheepowners in ■ protecting- those ■ workers who havo hitherto refused to throw in their lot with the A.P.U. AVo certainly are most anxious to'see the shearing done without any sign of industrial trouble, and for this Teason wo heartily approved the increases granted to shearers and shed hands, but, we are not going to stand idly by while tho A.P.U. bludgeons every shearing shod worker into its ranks. Wo appeal to every sheopowiier to mako it a point of honour that no such coercion will be permitted in their sheds. If nothing else happened to justify our hostility to that hybrid organisation this recommendation to those workors who happen to be members of it should bo sufficient to condemn tho organisation in the eyes of all reasonable and peaceloving" men. Wo cannot believe that (he shearers themselves would submit to such coercive measures, and wo hope those members who try to carry out tho behests of tho A.P.U. agitator will promptly meet with tho treatment they merit. We aro not experts in interpreting war regulations, but we think the recommendation of the A.P.U. comes perilously near bringing the officials within their scope. ■