THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 22464, 8 October 1936, Page 14

THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

(By Trade Unionist.) BOYS’ UNEMPLOYMENT. Unemployment has become so common that wo read little about the unemployment among boys. Figures published recently lend added support to the urgency of the Labour Government putting into operation its policy of a higher leaving ago, as the figures available showed that most of the boys unemployed were over the ago of 17. The significance of these figures must not be lost. It is clear that boys are being tempted to leave school by the promise of employment, and that these boys do get jobs which last them for about three years. Then, when their wages increase, they are dismissed, and younger boys are employed in their place. « So keen is the demand for labour under the age of 17 that there are not sufficient children to supply the need. This system clearly has vicious aspects, for, by attracting boys at the school leaving age, many who might stay at school for an extra year or so are drawn into industry. Headmasters and parents alike must find it impossible to resist the appeals of employers who want these bovs, and there is no indication that they will bo turned adrift so soon. The result is that school-leavers appear to be in demand, where actually they are engaged for a very short time and then thrown on the labour market —too old to resume school, not old enough to compete for adult work. These youths are Just old enough to deteriorate, for they are at the very age when most skilled workmen are just being trained. The work of the bovs’ employment movement is doomed to failure. It cannot help those who most need help, while its activities do much to find those short-avenue jobs which attract the boys from school. The only wav out is to adopt Labour’s policy of a raised school-leaving age and a properly co-ordinated system of part-time technical or general education for all to the age of 21. This can only be done by adequate allowances for those concerned. • • « • AMERICAN LABOUR SUPPORTS ROOSEVELT. Franklin D. Roosevelt is the almost unanimous choice of the .organised workers of America for re-election as President of the United States', says an American Labour journal. _ As time wears on striking now evidence of this fact accumulates. First proof was contained in the glowing endorsement given him some months ago by the convention of the United Mine Workers’ Union, which embraces half a million Americans who make a living —or try to —from coal pits in both the anthracite and bituminous areas. This was followed by an announcement by John L. Lewis, fierv leader of the miners, and one of the most forceful orators in the nation, that he would personally take the_ stump in the coal camps for the President. Shortly afterward the powerful Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union declared unequivocally for the re-election of Roosevelt, and chieftains of a number of important international unions organised to promote his candidacy. Several weeks ago William Green, president of the American Federation of Labour, whoso affiliates have a membership of 3,000,000. declared in an address to a convention of Union Women’s Leagues at Washington, 11. C., that President Roosevelt was n tried and true friend of Labour, and that ho should be supported strongly by tbo organised wage-earners of the country, • * * • LABOUR DELEGATE RETURNS FROM GENEVA. Readers of this column will remember that some few months ago Mr G. S. Thurston (Christchurch) was elected, as a result of a ballot taken amongst the trade unions, to attend the Geneva Conference as a workers’ representative, He has now returned to New Zealand after about three mouths’ absence abroad. Mr Thurston, in an interview with a northern paper, offers some severe criticism on the attitude adopted by the British Government in its delegates’ attitude in opposing conventions that were designed to improve the social conditions of the working people, and he goes so far as to state that, had the British Government voted with tho United States, Spain, France, and others on the 40-hour week convention, the proposal would have been adopted. One is loth to criticise, but obviously the opposition of the English employers to the 40-hour week has rankled in Mr Thurston’s mind. I would go further and state that most New Zealand trade unionists are aware of this opposition without our delegate reiterating it. I hope, however, that Mr Thurston intends to give those whom ho was elected to represent a comprehensive report of the proceedings at the conference. and some of his impressions on the international aspect of the Labour movement. Otherwise, his trip abroad will not impress us as having served a very useful purpose.

WE MUST “ WALK BY FAITH.” “ In looking over what has happened within living memory I have been thrilled by the great events of our own times, greater than they seemed when they were happening. It is quite providential that we cannot see everything either in the glare or the mists of life, and that through the long stretches of our journey we have to ‘ walk by faith and not by sight,’ for faith is invariably right if you believe in it rightly and accept it as a divine mystery. My appeal to our people now is' that they will ho true to the light that has conic upon them, that they will keep on making history, patiently and right-mindedly, in a spirit of service and sacrifice. This century is the greatest of all the centuries, and it is our duty to strive to realise its immense possibilities. What Glad-

stone described as 1 the immeasurable altitudes that yet remain unsealed ’ are in front of all our young people. Their challenge should be accepted with gladness.”—Mr A. G. Walkden, after many years’ service as secretary of the British Railway Clerks’ Association, in a letter to the ‘ Railway Service Journal.’

STABILISING OF INTERNAL PRICE LEVELS.

This year’s English Trade Union Congress report contains an emphatic declaration by its general council against proposals for a return to the gold standard. The aim of British monetary policy, the report declares, should be, first, to stabilise wholesale prices at a suitable level in England, and, secondly, to seek by internal agreement the largest practicable measure of stability in the rates of foreign exchange. “ This policy of stabilising the internal price level within reasonable limits, which commands a wide measure of general support, is incompatible with any reversion to the gold standard ; for the gold standard aimed at keeping the exchanges stable rather than the level of prices, and monetary policy was governed automatically by the size of gold reserves. “ This does not mean that exchange stability is not of vital importance to British and international trade. An international standard is, indeed, of great urgency, although there is no early prospect of _ its attainment, since it depends on internationally-agreed conditions, including reasonable freedom for the international movement ot goods and capital. “ What the international standard should be, is the point at issue; and the Labour Movement has declared that it should bo based on stabilised internal price-levels, and not on gold. Such a policy has the additional advantage of being applicable in part at the present time, when world conditions are so unsettled, and provides an opportunity to link up with the currencies of like-minded countries. Already many nations in practice relate their currencies to the British pound, and others may come into this group. “ The policy suggested above is an attempt to secure agreement among all nations to arrive at a common basis bv which exchanges may be stabilised at the same time as price levels are kept steady.”

POLITICS AND TRADE UNIONISM.

The attention of the Trades Councils has been drawn to the following resolution which was carried at the annual conference of Trades Councils (savs the ‘ Industrial News ’). “ This conference urges the Trades Union Congress to define clearly and impress upon the trade union membership a definite line of . demarcation between purely industrial organisations and political bodies. The experience gained shows that there is a. growing inclination to regard tho political organisations as an all-inclusive. body, thus creating a position which is contrary to tho best interests of trade unionism. We firmly assert that the industrial movement is the only body qualified to deal effectively with industrial questions; we further assert that the position of many councils is such that they are greatly handicapped in their endeavour to assist in recruiting members to the Trade Union Movement.” The ' resolution is self-explanatory, and councils are asked to use it as a guide in their future activities The Trade Union Congress General Council, from time to time, has urged trades councils to devote more of their income and attention to industrial activities and recruitment. Money paid in affiliation tees from the general funds of the unions cannot be used for political purposes, and should be used for the purpose for which it is contributed. It is an entirely mistaken idea that there is any necessity for the submergence ‘of industrial activities bv political interests. . Each have their appropriate place in the life of the workers. The General Council desires that trades councils and industrial sections of trades and labour councils should, in conjunction with local trade union branches, develop a vigorous local leadership in industrial matters. ■