To all Seafaring Men

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 91, 13 December 1912, Page 3

To all Seafaring Men

An Open Letter

FACTS, COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS.

PRESENT REGIME CRITICISED

Sir, —If you could span s a. little space in your valuable paper, irhirh is a credit to any working-class organisation, I would be pleased if you would insert, the following narration of facts, comments, and suggestions, whicb no doubt will open the «\vps of your readers and also of the searoon, more especially those who take, no nu>re. interest in their affairs than the mere paying in of their contributions to the union coffers. 1 do not want to cause any dissension or discontent in. our ranks, hecause we have that already; but truth will prevail, and I want to let other seamen know a little, perhaps which they don't know of what is' going on amongst us.

V\~e, the seafaring community, are placed in a very unfortunate position as regards our union. We do not have the same opportunity to attend our meetings as the members of unions of land workers, and those of us that do, to our dismay, whati do wo find? Not enough members to form a quorum. In the majority of eases, the vesse's are only one nighib in their homo port, and that being perhaps the meeting night, tile men do not want to spoil the evening at home by attending a meeting —to the detriment of their own interests, be. it said, and much to the discouragement of our executive officers. As a consequence of the men's lack'of interest (that of single men especially) or the calls of hearth and home, they arq loft |*i the dark as to whaiJ is going on in the union and its branches. The business has to be carried on, and the officers are left, to carry it «n themselves. I might, say, concerning the, Dunedin branch, that you can count on your fingers the meetings that have been held on the night my ship has been there since the beginning of this year.

'My opinion, anrfthat of many moro, is that the secretaries should carry out their duties, not to the detriment of their own class—for they are of our class— but. for the benefit' of all corioernod. At the present time we are in a. maelstrom, and we hare got to get out. of it, or else we'll be left a waterlogged derelict. T, for one, am not going to rest contented until I see some of the wrongs righted, and I most emphatically urge ray fellow seamen to rally roifnd and help the few that are sacrificing their spare time in looking after their interests.

I don't think I would be doing my duty to my class as a unionist if I let this thing drop. I say our organisation should be. one of, if not the most solid of industrial unions in the southern hemisphere. But what hate we got? An industrial union in name only. Our executive officers, if they hare the interest of the union at heart, should leave no stone unturned until every member in the organisation has that knowledge which every member should have—the knowledge of true unionism. The only way I can sec to accomplish this is for them to make it their business *o visit the ships in harbor as> frequently as possible, distribute literature among*: the members and so educate and organise this splendid body of men to the principles of Industrial Unionism. , I venture to say, without any fear of contradiction, that out of the total membership not above one-third knows the fundamental principles of Industrial ■Unionism. We want true unionism, not one man cutting another's throat, as you see at present. The whole fault lies in the. members not being educated, or else they would not allow our executive officers to have too much of a free hand in the administration of our affairs, making believe that they are o\ir bosses instead of our paid representatives. Of course, the remedy rests with the whole of the members of the union.

During the last few months we have experienced some of the above, and therefore it is our botmden duty to look after our own interest; so if we find at any time that our executive officers are working in a palliative sort of v.ay and not acting straightforwardly x o Ihe whole of the members, then I say, put them out of office and put someone th*re who will conserve our interests.

Dealing with some of the tactics of the Wellington branch secretary, I had the occasion to send a letter to him from Auckland, on behalf of the crew, asking him to come down on board, but to my surprise no Mr. Young turned up, alleging As his excuse that he never received our letter. Perhaps he knew the reception be was going to get. I called upon him in the union office, and was beginning to discuss a very important matter relating to our new agreement with the shipowners, when he at once told mc to take my grievance down to Dunedin, as I was in a Dunedin ship. "I don't want to have anything to say to you," said he; "get out of the office." I replied that I was as much entitled to be in the office as he was, after which things began to get a bit warm. One would think we had three separate Seamen's Unions in this so-calJod democratic country in which we are. allowed the "privilege" to live. He then ;told mc to go to h—; needless to say. I returned the compliment! He thereupon closed himself in the inner office,, and; of course,' I'did not wait any longer, but made my exit more thirsty for his gore than when I entered. I hop£ all my fellow-seamen will read this. letter and digest it for reference.

Comrades, we have to be at all times w&ry as to the Wna fides of the persons ■vfteltct to look after our interests. Wβ 4sn't want to jump from the. fryingpan into .the fire, but. we do want to be progressive. There are men—or apologies for men—in the shape of those who are tworfaced, who would buy you in oiie band- and sell you in the other.

I pay again we want to be at all times wary as to the men we place in official positions. I am ptrongly opposed to •the election of men who are on the permanent shore staff of the. Union Co. or any other shipping firm to represent 11s at a conference between thf union and the shipowners. No man ran pervo two masters ; he must either serve orio and neglect tliA other, or vice versa. We don't, want a repetition of that, kind of thing again, and I would strongly urge all members to support the. suggestion that, when there is going tr> he a conference between the employers and ourselves two active sea-going members, one from the dock and one. from the stokehold, from each branch of the Federation, bo on the conference, to assist in bringing about a satisfactory settlement.

"We were, given to understand that a disputes committee was going to be pet up. I think if w« had had a few ac-! tive members on that last conference in Dunedin, whereby a different interpretation was given to the. agreement, «e| should have "got more satisfaction than we have at present. In the past our secretaries-have.had too many irons in the fire, and I thjnk, along with many more, that there is quite sufficient/ workj for them to do in looking to tho welfare of their own organisation. If they think their salary is inadequate, we would gladly increase it, providing they looked after'our interests wholly and solely. Dealing with the Auckland branch, what do we find? Things are in a very bad way. I remember some few months ago the Hauroto was lying alongside the wharf. No delegate, was aboard, and members were over three months in arrears. Tho men were rnnning all over the town, but could not find the secretary, in which capacity Mr. Munro was acting pro tern. At the present time what do we see? Why, the Union Co. is working under one interpretation of the agreement and the Northern Co. is working under another, simply because the interpretation that the Union Co. is working under would be detrimental to the interests of the men in the Northern Co.'s ships. Why is this? The election of officers is near at hand, and by bringing the new interpretation into force we would find them beginnitig to squeal, as we are doing. The men would be worse off, for tho simple reason that in most of their ships they had an eight-hour day before the new agreement came out. Our so-called eight-hour day is only a farce, and the sooner we have an alteration in this state of things the better it will be for all concerned. Hoping this will catch the, eye of all seamen.—l am, etc., for Industrial Unionism, H. HEADMAN. S.S. Monowai.