BENEFITS OF UNIONISM.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 325, 28 January 1902, Page 3

BENEFITS OF UNIONISM.

(To the Editor of the Times.) Sm, —From time to time I get a look at your valuable paper, and recently noticed some correspondence re unionism, and as the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners has been quoted in some of your correspondence, I would ask you to kindly give me a little space to show some of the benefits derived from unionism. In older lands the tradesmen combine to protect themselves and the trade ; not alone against employers, but also against accident, sickness, and to make provisions for old age, also for widows and orphans, and to uphold the dignity of an old and honorable trade. These, Sir, are the main points of unionism as we know it. Now, Sir, this unionism has spread from Great Britain to all her colonies and the United States of America. Whilst our Statesmen are talking about one United Empire, wo have already accomplished that fact ; for it does not matter in what part of the world a member joins this society, wherever he goes the right hand of brotherhood is extended to him. I may here say that in Auckland we have brothers from all parts of the world ; some come to stay, others, as birds of passage, only come to look at the wonderland of Now Zealand. Each one carries his credentials and is welcomed as a brother in the Branch. If he comes to

stay, then it is our duty to see that he gets a job, and if he is in want or sick it js our duty to relieve him as a brother. This is true unionism as we know it. Then again, while the different States are solving the problem of old age pensions, we laugh at them, for that has already been solved by us forty year's ago, which one of our number in Poverty Bay district could inform you. To such a union your correspondent refers when he mentions the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners. Now, sir, I would offer a little bit of advice to my fellow tradesmen in Gisborne ; instead of trying to sling mud at one another, let them combine to protect an old and honorable trade, apd if, as some say, thero are carpenters and carpenters, let them that know so much learn the less skilled workmen by giving lectures on building construction and goneral joinery in their branch of the Union ; it will benefit both employer and employers, and uphold the dignity of labor and cause a good feeling in the trade, for each one of us is his brother’s keeper to some extent. With a few lines from Sir Lewis Morris’ “Ode of Welcome” I will close :

The wages that is due to them secure, Make thou their weakness strong ; From ruinous strife teach thorn the way of peace, Their knowledge and their restful hours increase.

One people are we, small and great, Dispel the cloud of petty spite and hate ; A little time, a little, ’tis we live, And I, who have no aid but this to give, Welcome you to unity with a heartfelt song.

Thanking you in anticipation,—l am, etc., S. Tyson, Auckland Branch Secretary, Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.