Sectionalism! a Danger to Waterside Workers.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 25, 25 August 1911, Page 5

Sectionalism! a Danger to Waterside Workers.

"MAORILAND WORKER " SPECIAL.

Waterside Workers, —Do you recognise your danger? Your unions are isolated and useless. You are like an army in a desert, cut oft' from its base of supply. Surrounded' by the Employers' Federation —a solid unit organisation—you are powerless. , Your solo weapon of defence is your power to stop operations. Whilst tho employers can procure an uninterrupted coal supply they can fill''your places with scabs. Your only hope of procuring better conditions is to obtain power over the coal supply. Towards this end there is but one course open, a.nd that is to join with the miners in the N.Z. Federation of Labor. Do you wish your Union to command respect ? If you do you must make it powerful enough to merit respect. You can only do this by linkiiTg-up. Unity is strength; strength breeds respect. Your conditions are bad, and you know it. You are herded together like sheep; you run in hundreds when you see a man approaching with a book. You must run because you are competing with each other for the right to live. The man with the book represents your master; he is a remnant of chattel slavery. He comes into your market every hour or so, to buy human labor, your labor, and then sells it again, just as a merchant buys pork, teaj or cheese. When he has bought the use of your body for a few hours he cries at you to "get a move on," because the more move you get on the bigger profit your owner gets. You are crammed down into hatches five and six gangs together, and .you howl aloud at the injustice of it. You are crippled and maimed; and you ma-ke haste to heal your wounds, in order to sell your labor again, because you know wounded labor is never bought ■so readily as ..-sturdy healthy labor. When you show grey under jour skull cap you find that you are not selling so freely as formerly. Your closest friend then mostly is a stringer on a pile, to which you mutter your sorrows, as the yoifn-g emigrant, the "Baby Bliss" of wharf parlance, take your place in the hold and shed. You have a union? Yes, certainly. But the award says nothing about old si,\<e> or discrimination. The officials of your Union know that. But they are powerless. Your Union stands in isolated helplessness. It is a sectional uni'Oii. You know this is true. You fe«ve been dismissed from work for speaking yoiir mind. You have been kept out of employment for weeks afterwards. What help have j r ou had from the

Officials of Federation of Labor Address the Watersjders.

Union.? You have been told that "as a. casual, you cannot demand reinstatement. ,. That answer is the fruit of sectionalism. If the Union took up your case* it would mean a trial of strength. The strength of your Union is known to your employers ; that is why you are treated in such a manner. Such treatment and. such conditions would be impossible under a federation wm- - binding all labor; the trouble of one man would be made the concern of all. That is what Industrial Unionism teaches, and this is the foundation of the N.Z.F. of L. Wo make a.v appeal to you to join the Federation because yotir isolation is our weakness. Whilst you remain outside you are a danger to us; your addition to our ranks would enable us to gain better conditions for ourselves as well as for ourselves. We want the whole product of our labor —nothing less will suffice. The wealth of the world is becoming concentrated into the hands of a few men; the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. As .this wealth concentration goes on, men are being forced out of facttoriets and shops—replaced by laborsaving appliances. They drift to the waterside, increasing your burden of competition. The power which is increasing your competitive burden is the concentrated force of capital. How powerless you are to stop' it is shown when ~ your Union cannot even •demand your right to a job. How can you demand jobs foir all when you cannot claim your ownp The .puny force of a union which cannot secure work for one member can. be made into a gigantic power — a federation which will demand for the workers not only the right to toil , bxit the. net result of their labor. This cannot be done until yon waterside workers recognise your position; as a class, and combine with... the- restof tiie class-comscioits workers. You have all to gain. The competition is fiercer in your domain than in any other .industry., Your struggle- is keener. The help of a Dominion Federation of Labor will put you in a stronger position than ever before, and thus lighten your Loiad and ease your burden in this struggle for existence. When you vote 0,11 the question of joining "the Federation of Labor, your emancipatin lies in the word YES. Strike away your helpless isolation by striking out "Mo," and become a Isve force In the International Army of the Working Class. For the N.Z. Federation of Labor. P. C. WEBB, President. J. GLOVER, Secretary. R. SEMPLE, Organiser.