THE ARBITRATION COURT

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 14, 9 June 1911, Page 12

THE ARBITRATION COURT

Sir, —As you are advocating the abolition of the Arbitration Court you must be in possession of facts of which a lot of the workers are ignorant. Until such time as 1 am assured that the workers in all industries are in a position to ignore the Court, I cannot subscribe to your doctrine. I am interested in the Farm Labourers' Union, of which I have always been an active member, and I know of no workers whose conditions are in need of improT-einsiit so much as the farm labourers. We were refused an award three years ago, but we are not disheartened, and we feel assured that in the near future an award will be made to cover the whole of the farming industry. I know there are several industries in which the workers are well organised and therefore in a position to protect their own interests. In these industries they are in a better position, as there is a great difficulty in organising the farm labourers. They are scattered in all directions, and on many farms the staff consists of one man. To organise these workers is a difficult task. The present secretary of the Shearers' Association used to term, it "plough-chasing" ;. at times it would take him a whole day to interview-five or six men. And he might find that he was endeavouring to "enrol tho cocky." Give us time to bring this big body of workers into the fold. Let us build up and strengthen our unions, bring them into the Federation of Labour, and when the workers are united, and class conscious, I too may be prepared to shout "Away with Arbitration." —Yours, etc. Temuka. JACK COOPER.