NATIONAL UNIONS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 45, 17 November 1920, Page 8

NATIONAL UNIONS

evidence before parliamentary COMMITTEE THE "ONE-BIG-UNION" IDEA

The "one big union" was under discussion when Mr. Savage's Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill was being considered by Ae Labour Bills Committee of the House of KepreBentntiTOS. Mr. Savage (Auckland East), who introduced the Bill on. behalt 01 Labour organisations, said that lus desire was to have one national union in each industry. "The principle seem*i lb me to be fairly obvious, lie said, because there Jb a good deal o£ overliip„iiur unl l expense in connection with the running of the unions.. Where you can net one union for an industry it make? for scientific handling, of business, both by unions and employers Instead ot. having a lot of small bodies hero and there, all fightin j in their own way and very often conflicting, it js better, tn have one union for one industry right through the dominion, with branches m Cn .\tr president of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council, said that at .present union# had to go outside the arbitration law in order to secure national organisation. I want to dispose of ilie idea that we want to go out on strike or form one big said Mr. Kennedy. All we want to do is to bring the Arbitration Act into lino with the Arbitration Actfe of other countries The Arbitration Act of the Commonwealth ot Australia, allows to have one union wlvenng the whole Com monwealth in one industry, a union controlled by one ,body. The Arbitration Kct of Queensland allows you to have one unioii in an industry right, through fte State. In New South Wales. the same principle applies, and again- in South Australia and Western In Victoria tlioy have no arbitration system. Our Act has got to be nupro\W^ung''appeared before the committee on behalf of the Seamen, s Union, and urged thatl tho seamen ought to have a national union. Upder the industrial agreement between the chipowners and the union, lie said, . a man may be discharged in the port in New Zealand where he signed the current iaiticles, or nt Auckland, Onehunga, Wellington, Lyttelton, Port Chalmers, or Dunedin. and he cannot object to accept his discharge at any one ot these ports. This is quite different to a shore union i-sueh, say, as tho Arlington Tramway* Union-whose members are every ila> constantly employed in this city the union is registered. Undei the existiri" industrial law an industrial association may he formed of not less thai, two industrial unions of woikers. Ine seamen have a nnion at Auckland, Jn the Northern'lndustrial District; one at AYellington, in tho AYellington district, and one at Dunedin, in the Ota go and Southland district; and these.three industrial unions have formed an association of workers under tho Act; but tho seamen have not a union m the Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, Western, or-Taranaki districts. . "Thus seamen have.' under t.lto existing state of things, 110 legal status in anyone of these five districts, although they nrp> constantly beinp engaged, worked, ond discharged at the vai>ius ports in each of them. It may be pointed out, for example, that a good percentage of members of (lie Wellington registered union regularly sail out of Auckland in Auckland local vessels, such as those ot the Northern Steamship. Company, and a fair percentage of Auckland, registeredunion members regularly sail in AVellington local vessels and Napier local vessels in the Wellington district, and there are a percentage of Dunedin registered-union members regularly sailing in Auckland local ships and Wellington local ships. .Jiv existing law a member of the Dunedin Union has no le*al status outside the iQtago and Southland .district; a member 'of the Wellington Union no legal status outside the Wellington district, and the member of tho Auckland Union no legal status outside the Northern Industrial District AVo are actually working in conjunction with the Australian shipping, mid we want *0 have one union for the seamen of Australasia, becauso the two countries are ■bumping up afpinst one another. AVe are both working under a code of maritime law and of industrial low entirely distinct. Sliijjj are coming* to various ports in New Zealand which vessels are owned in Australia, and they are working under the maritime law and under the awards of the Court'in that country. They are in open competition with the ships that are owned and working under tho law of this, country, and they are continually bumping up against one another. I consider the day has arrived when the Governments of the respective countries should consider the advisability of bringing-in uniform shipping legislation as. between the two countries as well as in regard to industrial arbitration legislation."

The case against the proposal of tho Bill was 'stated by Mr. W. Pryor, eecretnry of the New Zealand Employers' federation. ,He said that he regarded the Bill as a preliminary to the formation of one big union. '"By the means proposed," he said, "Dominion unions could be registered' under .the Act, which would only be another step to tho federation of those unions. Another result would bo that it would certainly place more power in tho hands of' the extremists', If there is one thing more than another contained in this Bill it is that authorisation shall be granted the Dominion Executive to discipline the district unions and the individual workers. I believe you will find that some of tho Labour people themselves ndmit'that this is so; And ifc would prevent local unions from entering into agreements with employers in their own dfstriots. The proposal would also permit a Dominion executive of any organiMition to take action in ono centre to secure an award for the whole Dominion, with the result that an award might be made without local conditions being fully considered. Now, while it may be desirnble thnt there should be a Dominion award, so far as the general principles covering a particular industry are concerned, it'is always found thnt local conditions must be considered, and in order to secure that being done it is essential that citations should be issued in the several districts, even if a Dominion award is being sought. . . . Wo believe that this Bill is put forward with tho idea of scouring control from ■Wellington over a certain industry, ao that whatever the controlling people may say it will have to be done... We find tlijs to bo the case to some extent in conncti'on with some of the industrial pnions today. In tho mining industry, in the waterside workers' industry, and, I believe, to some extent in connection with soamen, who have got their Dominion federations, orders appear to be practically issued from the head office—not from the local body—but practically issued from the head oilico to the local bodies, and it is in the head office where the policy is formulated." < The Bill did not reach the Statute Book. It was still on the Order Paper wiicn fno session ended.