The Maoriland Worker A Journal of Industrial0Unionlsm, Socialism and Politics. "Organ of the New Zealand Federation of Labor." FRIDAY', MARCH 29, 1912. Auckland Mayoral Contest. The "Trouble" and the Fight for Unionism.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 55, 29 March 1912, Page 8

The Maoriland Worker A Journal of IndustrialoUnionlsm, Socialism and Politics. "Organ of the New Zealand Federation of Labor." FRIDAY', MARCH 29, 1912. Auckland Mayoral Contest. The "Trouble" and the Fight for Unionism.

What nil New Kealand is speaking of as "the Auckland trouble" is stall with us, but for tho time, being tin* lipid of operations is changed. The fight is still on, but tho scene, is shifted. Within the municipal floiniiin the next trial of strength is taking place. Labor is after th<? Miiyornlty. Commondably sOj if only because t.ho Mayoralty in, temporarily, the key to the situation.

A striking featuro of fch<? Anrkland trouble is that tho provention of a strike has become as big and as burning a happening as a strike. This somewhat singular phenomenon is to be witnessed as a result of an awakening to Ibc realities of the case. For as agitation has begotten education, the workers of Auckland have seen in the City Council's conduct a menace to Unionism, and have unmasked the Mayor for the anti-unionist ho is. And so, agitation and education have culminated in organisation for the defence of Unionism. The call of the hour is—tho Mineral chair for Union-

Unionism was at stake directly Mr. C. J. I'arr, Mayor of Ancklan.-l, took "the hijjjh and mighty" cours,' of rrfusiny to mecf tho acerodited and chosen representative* of certain numicipnl employees. Unionism i.s at stake whilst such au altitude roniaius possible It i.-s altogether besiJe the major Question w!u'Un;r Iho representatives of the employees or the employees L'leinsi'he.s iv« to the Federation of Labor, or to the Trades Hal!, or io neither. The right; of a union as such to treat with employers has become inherent in industrial negotiations. Enrly in the history of trades unionism the for tiie recognition of trades unionism, and after a long and bitter struggle, it ha? become a rardinal principle in trades unionism that the union as such, and not oven tho unit of tho union, as guch, —let alone the individual employee as sueh —is to bo the negotiator and tho pariy in industrial disputes.

It is an o'd K-imo, t!ii* of tl:e oflieial brdy and dealing with the separate hands. Wheri'ver (lie panic bus succeeded, tho workers have? been Imo'lu'inkfd, and r'ninjiisin iiij'jrrd and perhaps sma^lied. "W'Ji-en Mr. Parr, an of tho civic power, brazenly rallied himself with the Employers' Association, and next permitted himself to take shape in. tho. public oyo as spokesman for the Employers' Association, he really prostituted a civic office and prejudiced a democratic institution. As a Mayor, no man has tho remotest to turn the Mayorship into the chairmanship of an employers' diivclorate —ho has no defence for subordinating the public welfare to tho private interest.. This is exactly what Mr. Tarr did. Ks the employers' chief in reality, but ostensibly as Mayor of tho city, he arrogantly declined to meet tho Taioii which included many municipal employees, and as.sc-tcd Ins in tout ion of dealing with said employee;) as such and not as a Union, It sounded Veil--it was grnnd, ;.v]!kl tho busses —bub could bo tolerated, for it? t-okratiou meant tho dividing ol the unionists, the .s[)liit:n;j:-iip of tue

L'nion. and en-pioyees at th-> inei'cy of i.he l.nsd, in a:' I out of the Council. It is axiomatic that if an o>r;>loyer ran tnai, with tho individual onnloyee ho citu play one man off «gainst tho other and dictato faho termj ali along tho liiit>. It is proven that it an employer can treat with (lie empio.vocs of his own establishment, rather than with tho 'Union, tho net result is a (bath-Mow to unionism. Mr. Parr is uVhtii)£ for tho ri<j;ht to da what few Oi.'iployers in New Zealand can do —got at tlic individual omployco and arrange, with eiicli mw tho crMBAJo-iis of employment. Wherever ft $s" done, there is no unionism. Tho fact speaks like thunder.

No isolated employer in tlw printing traclo can d< , al dire'jily flifli an cm-ol->;u*> hours aad wanes

other than under Union regulations. No coni r actor can deal wiWi the cai penter, bricklayer or laborer us apart lrom tin 1 Union. Xo oinpliiyi-r em be entrusted to a<'t as Mr Purr loudly asserts he will act, ii' I'nioni-iin uto ex-isl. All<l this is why I'nioimm in at stake ii: Auckland.

The civic custodian of the people .■» ltljcTl ifs has publicly—and more than publicly, officially — attacked a fundamental feature of Traces Unionism, and has thus betrayed the- people's liberties, I'or inseparably joined t<i ihe people's rule is I he cmic ded right, justice and necessity of Trades I'liionisni. Let tlic workers of Auckland recall some of the tragical, aye bloody, pages ' of working-class hi-Uory, aiid scanning tlio record, grip lightly how that just precisely tho ttnnio attitude as Parr's .begot the fiercest mass warfare in d>>l'once of thn right of combination and the greatness of organisation. Cunning and money, brilliant sophistry and magnificent polemic, wore freely at employers' disposal in behalf of the specious claim to ignore "the men's representatives," and give tlio Union t-hu go-by in order to help the employee who was being eoercod by tyrannical agitators and what not—Ah! Ah! Ah! The working-class had never done, anything unless it had insisted that the organisation was of more import a nee iihan the unit, and thai therefore tin* units had to act as a united force as against the exploiter. Kingly, individually, workers found themselves outraged, deceived and bludgeoned ; together, unitedly, workers found theinfclves able to resist eneroacliment and effect improvement. This is- workingclass wisdom, the luminous lesson of history: Solidarity means lessened peril, stabler progress, greater power. | Yes, solidarity! it is worth lnainlainiii.g. It is .vHiiething substantia!. That, beginning wJth the (iviinrnl Laborers' Union the Auckland trouble has filially embraced all the Auckland Unions is the splendid attestation of the grandeur of Solidarity. It is tin refutation of the, miserable. Mayoral statements to the effect that the ''syndicalist 1 ' I'Ydci :tf ion of Labor was an "interfering," "impudent ,, mob of anarchists, without respect or support, see-king a strike for the mere wanton devilry of it. It is the recognition of tho supremacy of Unionism, and a passionate protest against the invidious would-be wreckers of consolidation. It is as plain as daylight that if ALr. Parr gains his end, ono Union is stricken and a precedent established for niiiny Unions to b> , stricken. No Union —whatever its allegiance otherwise—can safely afford to stand idly by and sco the representatives of another Union "turned down," or tho body to which tlio Union is affiliated insulted and ignored, without itself making a rod for its own back, a grave for its own cause. Unionism is at stake in. Auckland. The more this is emphasised the greater w:'!I be the public endorsement of Unionism's present fight. If wo have labored the point it has only beon for the purpose of making its tremendous import ss'iwd and understood. And now, it bocorrios the duly of every unior.iot, and of every believer in ' Unionism, to parlieipalo in a mighty election ca:iipa:»;i) that will dowi: Mr. ; Parr, and do.vn.in3; Mr. Parr, ' lead to tho removal of his die- 1 tutorial decree and prevent finthor ■ strife around the question of recogni- i tion. If Mr. Parr is defeated, the re- i turn of tho Unions' r.iiiiii:ieo will ho i surely accepted by tho Council as a .< mandate to moot ia ecifcrenco tii<» s Union as such. t

We welcome Ui<> ?>*:iyoral con!p<: as an opportunity to pub to the tost the sincerity of (iiD.sc who any that if the workers would only act reasonably :u.u sensibly (insu-ad of sfrik'ii:';) (heir grievances could e.'>?ilv !,.<* adjusted. If ■ those peopl'' vo'o :dr. Parr b.ick io the Mayorship their v.'riiioii.? talk will bo known for liyjvi.Tr-iy and dishorp\-.fy. I:i any cmsc, lo!'- ihc- workers i;:,ivc «'it!i and n";.;ti:i in thoir own inuv.'o.sts. Rtrvci'.go is not o;ily scn-.f.' 1 . swccl—and A!r. Pur! .sUmls rcvfii.lod fi-. ciuploypr-i' tfiol"-b:i! it is wiso for ii.o '.vork.'J's to 2;iin us.":.>:'/!;iii'ry tli: si- tI.K-is ir.;iy bo : yii'l, bcsidi.v-i, niuni(iy;ii iu'(.i-,)'.i is p:\ir of ih<> modern movenn.'in aiir.i;,;;; ai IcisurOj pleasure a::d '.■"risuro for tho masses. Tliut the Labor ivU-'-raiion aiid i.liis paper are prepared to solidly link-up with oil unionists in < .inducting; v\hat can bo made a n;emorab'e. municipal campaign, anu o.!v eagerly ready to use the v« J 'i in doing so, o:ice and for al! to knock under the oft-iipeatod kili-3 of our common Syndicalism. We w not syndicalisms in tho precise significance of the term, for wo are for the rot-e, and the syndicalists arc not. At the same time, tho lovo of truth commands us to declare, that as far as certain syndicalist methods may be U3o-

Inl tithe working-class we are for tlio-c methods. There is much that is efficient mid practical, wise an<l sound, in syndi-'nlism--and it seems lo us that you might logically speak of "the invuiily of Unionism." as speak of ''the insanity of .syndicalism." Similarly it is the fooliojh-est of propaganda to be forever railing at the .strike when in the nature, of things the strike is an inevitable part of working-class warfare

■-■■not necessarily always but always necessarily. To heatedly denouneo that which you may need to utilise is shortsighted, is stupid, is treasonable. Your ■leiiunciaiion may undo your need. 0 that our Labor leaders would take a tuuiblo! Interesting sidelights on tho Auckland trouble—■β-iid "llio trouble" is worthy a p.imphh't —arc, firstly, the employers'- feverish and doterniinod rally to the Arbitration Court, that effete institution to which many Labor leaders are amazingly ai(ached and would n\..:io fr:> 1.1 rain (thou:;!; it.-, ruin must nieaii, in the lignt of economic evolution, a better structure). Secondly, the "roping-in" of farmers as pro.speetive strikebreakers, touotiicr with the annouuceiix'nfc of tJie I'armors' Union that the farmers would tiiko the plnrc of sh'ikcrs, illustrates at one and tho same time the economic bia-. of the men on tho land, tlio'urgent i;eed of ind'istrialist propaganda in ''the country," and the. duty of fai'm labor to keep the fani'or busy v/itli ''homo" traublo so Uut he v.,nr imt journey "abroad" i.'wkiny; for it. Thirdly, the altered attitude of tho press towards tho strike, inasmuch as now that ihe employers .seem to want a strike the. newspapers see in tbo strike a inrairs of loachirijr that terrible Federation a lesson it will nor hurriedly forget. Although ibe l'V(*. <"T,i'ion has boon everlastingly berated as upholder of the. brutal sln'kc, ire tearfully that we have ohservod no frantic belaboring of tho employers who seem to want a strike.

Of course. t!.o fact is tliat the os-n'oiif'.-s and {heir henchmen nrn sa earror io destroy i!w Federation of Labor thnt {■]:•■-y arc indifferent fls to ■.'.l'.c'Ji.'r tiioy i.Tf--.i.my tl'O Arbitra-

!:•■ '"ivfc <.r- per i'.io f-lriho—if only Mi ■>■ (v>i:!d <T-s!roy! It's liKhutrial l'ni;ii;';n 1 hoy actually fonr, knowing

,i::ii in 'ie spirit nnd plan of Imlus- ■ ■ri:il n t ; ;oni-.m tho workers become ■;[iin.'!"(•!■! n:icl tloor.s. The thought and ilic (l'.-ed—-the>o ho onianoip.atory! TJic L;!u(;r movoiiiont can do anything, ovovylliir:,-, v/lion it wills to do it. But you ca:rot l.aro a movement without jMOviu^. L-efc the Unionists swinß along to municipal victory in fraternal r.ssofiation, inspired by the sentiment of Solid?. i-ily. and oxaltod by tho glori- ( ,m of messago-boaring for human brotherhood and betterment. Got votes!—that's tho path at hand. Canvass the citizoiu, distribute literaturo, boom the candidate—to the streets for working-class sirpremacy, for th.it Unionism which, has boon sanctified in blood and fire.