TRADE UNIONS BILL

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8359, 20 February 1913, Page 8

TRADE UNIONS BILL

COMMITTEE STAGE IN HOUSE OF LOSES. LONDON. February 18, The House of Lords has completed the committee stage of the Trade Linona Bill, which has been reported. Lord Dunmore’s amendment not to allow union funds to bo expended on the publication of political newspapers was passed. In May, 1911, the Home Secretary Introduced the Trade Unions Bill, as the result of the agitation of the Labour party against the Osborne Judgment, which showed that it was illegal for affiliated trade unions to compel unwilling members to contribute to a political fund. The Bill provides that the funds of a trade union may be applied to political objects if the furtherance of those objects is approved by a majority of membora voting in secret ballot; but payments for such objects most be made out of a separate fund maintained for the purpose. Any member objecting to contribute to such a fund shall bo exempted from the obligation, and contribution to the political fund shall not be n condition of membership of the union. The Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons in May, 1911, but up to the adjournment in August, 1911, it had not proceeded to committee. The Trades Union Congress in September, 1911, resolved not to accept the Bill as & settlement "unices amended in such a way as to embody the complete reversal of the Osborne Judgment-” In October, 1911, it was announced that the Government had decided not to proceed with the Bill in the current session. The National Conference of Minors, on January 3rd, passed a resolution to the effect that although unable to accept anything short of complete reversal of the Oaborne Judgment, they ware prepared, meanwhile, to accept the Trade Unions Bill subject to further improvement. The Bill recently passed its third reading in the House of Commons.