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Hokitika Guardian, 13 March 1918, Page 2

A decision which is calculated to have an important hearing on the future industrial life of the Dominion was come to by the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants recently. It will he remembered that in 1916 a. Transport Workers’ Advisory Board, was set up tq discuss and advise upon disputes involving any of the bodies represented. The Board, which has remained is existence ever since, now comprises representatives of the following bodies: —The .Amalgamated Society of Railway servants, the Locomotive Engine-drivers,’ Firemen, and Cleaners’ Association, the Waterside Workers’ Federation. the Drivers’ Federation, the Federated Seamen’s Union and the Tramwaymen’s Federation. Tlie objectives of the board as set out in the constitution are as follow: fa) To, improve the conditions and protect the interests of all classes of transport workers, and to provide a means by which an affiliated transport worker’s Union or federation may have matters affecting its members discussed and considered by a board representative of transport workers generally. fb) To provide a. good understanding between employers and employees •' nd to advise and assist tho affiliated unions as to the best means of settling their disputes. fe) To organise all transport workers on tlie lines of industry. At the triennial conference of the ■' m.algamated Society of Railway Servants, held recently in Wellington, a

j i j proposal for the adoption of this constitution was considered, The matter was introduced by a loiter from the. secretary of the board,' ia the course of which it. was stated: “Since the first conference of transport workers in 1916, the board has taken an ative interest in the welfare of the different organisations connected with the transport industry. During the New Zealand Drivers’ dispute the action taken by the Transport Workers’ Advisory Board was mainly responsible for the National Cabinet reviewing the award'given by the Arbitration Court, and the granting of increased wages and improved working conditions to the, drivers. Also during the waterfront trouble in 1917, the waterside workers received every assistance ■u advice from the hoard and recently, when the officers of the Seamen’s Union were ordered off the wharves and ships in New Zealand, a meeting of the hoard was held, and a deputation of tramway workers waited on the Minister for Defence, and as a result the order was revoked. It will be

seen, therefore, that the Transport Workers’ Advisory Board, in every washes justified its existence, The constitution had been approved by the Waterside Workers’ Conference, and by some ' of the Drivers Unions. The railway- : men being the largest section of trans- 1 port workers in the Dominion, it will never be possible to build up an efficient transport workers’ organisation without their co-operation. Therefore T would ask that your conference oonidor the closer industrial organisation of all workers engaged in the industry We have every confidence in the railwayman toj come into the (forefront to that necessary industrial comradeship between all sections of transport workers.” The motion for the adoption of the constitution was carried.