Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 15th, 1919. SAVE LABOUR.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 April 1919, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 15th, 1919. SAVE LABOUR.

, Mr. J. R. Clynes M.P., who was a 1 prominent personage during the peri- ' od of food control in 'the bitter days of the war and is also a prominent Labourite, has been talking on the responsibility of trade unions in relation to industry. In the course of a recent address, be went on to say: “Labour will be better able to do its duty if other people do theirs. But even if employers do not do right, that is no reason why Labour should do wrong. I do not believe that any industrial grievance can be removed by ’ the workers doing injury to industry, j It is necessary to seek a general uplifting of industrial conditions. In that movement trade unions should not forget the interests of trade when thinking of their own interests. It is natural that trade union officials should be inclined to look at only one side of a question, but after all, there are two sides, and unless both are considered there is a risk of doing certain injury to industry. Industrial prosperity has not in the past meant working-class, prosperity, but it can mean that in the future, because Labour is strong enough to secure for itself improvements which formerly it never thought to obtain. To-day trade unions possess more power, moral authority, and influence than ever before, and that increases tlieir responsibility. The union leaders also have responsibility, and it should not be evaded or surrendered in submission to acts of violence or what is called ‘direct action.’ To subvert discipline within a union would bo a fatal step in the effective organisation of the future. Trade unionists should observe all that is expressed in the term ‘honouring agreements.’ To-day there is a tendency to regard bargains with less solemnity than was the case years ago, but it will be in the best interests of Labour to continue to gain confidence by a High standard of honour. Labour, strong as it is, cannot permanently separate itself from the body of the community. The public is a jury to which great industrial questions must always be submitted for a

verdict. It is a bad thing for Labour to find public opinion against it, and it can never lose a battle with public opinion on its side. If Labour infuriates or disgusts the public it will not do as Labour desires in its interests. In exchange for accepting its responsibility towards industry, the workers will have the right to exact better terms. They are entitled to more of the gains than accrue from business operations, even if others have to be content with less. Unrest lias been fostered by balancesheets showing how, during the war, enormous profits were made by different businesses, whereas large numbers of workers were kept at the level of life that obtained before the war.”