At the Waterfront

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 55, 29 March 1912, Page 5

At the Waterfront

By NAUTILUS

LEGAL SOLIDARITY

Cisborne, Bluff, and other Advances, with the Moral. The executive, council of the Seamen's Federation of Australasia, sitting a< Syifify, considered tho qucslio; of cii'w.s being compelled to work cargo which other labor refused to handle, living \i) liil;or (rojibJe. It was res<dve ! r ; ' ■:'■:■. L- '.;• the law, providing thai i'n\; d<,. liilisu iVu/a CUigO, until SUcll tiiiio as an alteration in tho law can be seen rod.

This cable item means that the executive, of tlio Seamen's Union of Australasia lias sanctioned, organised acubbory until tho law is aniend«l in suoh a. way as to nmko industrial solidarity legal' Jn our opinion, tho rS.Z. seamen would not handle scab cargo, legal or illegal, whether tho Union sancti(/!i''d it or not. No union esecutive can lioncatly condone scab bury in any form.

R.-ported tliafc Gislorne, Waterside Workers will receive a general increase of wages as a result of the lat4; eoiifeieuce. Tlio will come into operation on April 1, and continue for two years. General ca.rgo and coal is now rated at Is. Gd. per lioin-j with l's. Ud. per hour for overtime.*

Tlio employers' delegates present wmc in a. happy mood, and one of them be.iiiiiiurly said: "It was ono of the ])leasantest eouferonees 1 havo ever boon at. If all such, meetings were cfi|i;lviri<:(l MJth tlio same good spirit, th.'iv woiild Ik! less talk I'Lout .strikes and ti.'O Federation of Labor."

It ni-'joves tho Gisbonie nion to look \\'H i:;'.<i thai for no onijilu.v.:- , c.iii'.'.iS iiwuy from a couferoiico — >\kh depleted pockets—talking in

such a strain. Thero will lio a scriotis rii't in the. lute somewhere. Wo must soo iLal Bob Semplo and Paddy Webb pay a visit to Poverty Hay.

Hit.if ."W'iiU'rsidors iiavo in oMu-iniiiii it fresh advam*) nn tho rates I which wore rcc-eutly patohi-d into an ! award by tho Arbitration Court. "l'\a asi ! ill-wind that blows nolwdy any good. ' The result of the recont "Wvilin^ton I couu.-ro.ro has dirc.xliy and indirectly raisod wages all along liio r:oasfc. Bi>nn; ]iorts (lid tlio honest thing;, and stood I shoi'ilder to shoulder iv tho fight and ' Uifik their advaJice as a reward for • solidarity. Others, liko tlii , noii-unioiir i iit v,lio foars tlio figlit and grudyjos the jciliry duos, stood aloof, tho ro- : suit of tlio Federation's effort, nt t'ho '• sumo time Leaping mud on tlioir bonci factors. For it cannot bo gainsaid tdi.at j witJioub tho solid front shown to the ! niaster-olaas at Wellington, not only would tlw unions roprosentod liave r€^ ciuved nothintjj but tJioso who stood aloof would once have had to face

Judgo Sim and receive, a scolding for tih 1 mi 1 audacity in daring to ask for more. • * - That fossilised organisation, 1 he, N'.Z.W.W. Federation, still draffs a few officially-run unions at its heels, but this can only last until Midi time as our organisers pay a visit to these places, put tho gospel of Industrial Unionism before tho rank and file, heave the detractors over the side, and join tho N.Z.F.L. Picton Waterside Workers' Union formally applied for registration under the Trades Union Act on March 2fi last. .Another recruit for the Federation. * • • Waterside Unions inside tho Federation of Labor are : —Dunedin, Auckland, Wcstuurt, Wellington, Paten, Foxton, Lyttolton, Nelson, Greymouth, Viekm, Timaru. Outside: Gisborno, Napier, Wanganui, Muff. Eleven insido and four out. Why not allow mnjority to rule, and link-up? You havo more, to loso outside than wo iiai'o to gain by your inclusion. Anyhow, come in.

Waterside Unions should make an effort to be represented by their delegates at tin* coining conference, as t.hore aro many luattcr.s of ontstandiiif; importance to lie dealt with —practically tlte foundation of tho Transport Branch'and subsequent arrangement of dot-ails of lnauapjornont- A preliminary conference of Waterside nnbus will no doubt be held on the day previous to tho main conference.

Messrs. P. C. Webb .11 id It. S. Ross (Federation of Labor) addressed about 'JflO members of the- Wellington Waterside Workers' Union last week on tJio Auckland labor trouble. TIIO following resolution was carried unanimously: "That this mooting of waterside >v(ii : cors has ovory confidence in the executive of the New Zealand Federation of Labor, and approves its action in tv : ";ni'l to (lie Auckland Genera! Laborers" disputo; further, wo condemn, tho despotic action adopted by the Auckland Mayor and city couiiciiiors and oilier employers in refusing to meet tlio Federation of Labor to disjciKSS tho points in dispute; and we pledge ourselves to stand iirinly by our affiliated comrades, the General Laborers' Union of Auckland, if called upon to do so; and that it bo an insl ruction to our secretary to communicate, with all local secretaries and arrange meetings of protest and united action."