Bosses Break Agreements.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 53, 15 March 1912, Page 4

Bosses Break Agreements.

By E. R. CALE

It was \vil.h some asloiiLslinieiJt and do littlo {iiinio-PDioiifc that J perused a paragraph in tin- Mclson ''J ; 'vciiing Mail," headed "A Union with a Conscience," and recording the volo of censure passed upon I*. Jl. ] Ik-key by fclio Inangahua Minors' Tiiioii. The members of ill*' Union referred to certainly scorn to liavo gone out of their way in moving a vole of censure cm an individual lor committing Ilio (10 ilicin) heinous crime of possessing an opinion and tho oourago to <;xih'cs,s it.

Also, the Inaiigatiua. Miners' Union is at present working under an agreement registered under tire Arbitration Act. Now, it is a fact well known to every member of this 'Union, that this agreement has been, tiuio and again, flagrantly violated by the present management of the Consolidated Co.

To take two clauses—the one relating to six hours being a working shift in wet places; the other stating; that no member shall be victimised for taking a leading part in Union matters. The first clause was openly violated in the Black water mine, when men were forced to work eight hours in admittedly wet places under threat of dismissal; and with regard to tho victimisation clause, it cannot be denied that the list of members of tho I.M.U. victimised during the past 12 months, solely for being prominent members of that Union, easily constitutes a record for any union in New Zealand. And the present trouble also arose through a breach of tho contracting agreement by the same conscienceless management. To anyone acquainted with these facts the labelling of the Reefton Union by the capitalist press as "a Union with a conscience" can, hardly be taken as a compliment to its members. Indeed, the tactics of the Union, as disclosed in the motion referred to, seem to mc to be on a par with the folly of one man, figirtinc strictly ac-

fording to the latest boxing rules, boiling to defeat aJiothor j-csoiling lo all iliu lowdown ti'icks of tiie •all-in , school.