Christchurch General Labourers' Union.

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 1, 15 September 1910, Page 4

Christchurch General Labourers' Union.

(By A. PATERSON, Secretary.) The development of the Christchurch General Labourers' Union shows what systematic organising can do. The . Union was started in August, 1899, and the old adage that " great things spring from small beginnings " has proved to be absolutely true. In August, 1899, some twenty general labourers met and decided to form a Union. It was not popular to be a Unionist in those days, and the pioneers had many a hard battle to fight. Many of them walked the boots off fSeir feet tramping round looking for work and getting the same answer day after day: " Nothing doing to-day," and having the pleasure of seeing their non-unionist mates fully employed. They had a preference clause in those days: preference to nonunionists. But the men who joined the first Labourers' Union in Christchurch were not jellyfish unionists. They did no J c join the Union for the purpose of ge l - ting a job. Oh, no, their record prov is that. On looking over the first roll and comparing it with the present I find the following pioneers still battling away in the ranks of the Union :-—

James Clark, James Smith, Mark Kernell, H. Carr, G-. Carr, C. Nelson, James Moore, J. T. Rosser and J. Bradshaw. These men have all stuck to their guns against great odds, and have now the .satisfaction of seeing their Union the strongest numerically in Canterbury. Up to the middle of 1904 the strength of tho Union varied from 20 to 41, the latter being the number on the roll on July 1, 1904. During the last half of that year 28 new members joined, and from that date up to the present the Union has made rapid strides. In July, 1905, the present secretary (Mr A. Paterson) was appointed. His first work was to have a cleaning up of the rolls, and after all the bad and doubtful names had been removed he found there were 43 left. But that 43 were nearly all good fighters ; they were made of the right kind of stuff, ias •EFie following records show. By the end of 1906 the roll stood at 86 members ; by the end of 1907 there were 317 members ; by the end of June, 1908, 462 members; and during that half-year were formed at Timaru (60 members , ) and Ashburton (20 members). Mr Edward Howard was then appointed organiser for the Union, and lie did real good work, and enrolled between 300 and. 400 members in three months Tn July. 1908, the roll numbers had increased greatly, and it was decided to engage a permanent secretary and establish a permanent office. Mr A. Paterson was appointe** and an office was taken in Chancery L/ane; subsequently the Union removed to temporary offices in Hereford Street, and it is now established permanently in the Christchurch Trades Hall, with Mr A. Paterson still as secretary. For the last three months Mr J. Bradshaw has held the position of outside organiser, and the Union now numbers, according to the last returns, 1060 members. A similarly satisfactory record could be given of the financial progress of the Union. Fot the quarter ending October, 1905. the total cash in hand was £12 15s lOd. For the quarter ending July 12, 1910, the total cash in hand was £265 8s lid; and, in addition, during the last five years some £200 has been subscribed to various funds. Tn the matter of general organisation the Union is working on sound lines. As stated before, it has now branches in Timaru and Ashburton, and it intends to establish branches at other centres as soon as possible. Its awards now cover quarry workers, stone workers and general labourers throughout the whole of the Canterbury district, and the members are thoroughly convinced of the importance of complete industrial organisation if their general conditions and wages are to be improved.