SUPPORTERS HURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26626, 24 November 1947, Page 6

SUPPORTERS HURT

CHARGE AGAINST LABOUR GOVERNMENT

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS CITED Industrial Correspondent i WELLINGTON, Nov. 23. The Government in its recent acts had chosen to hurt its supporters and weaken the Labour movement, declared the annual report of the national executive of the New Zealand Carpenters’ Union, adopted at the annual conference in Wellington. The report said that the time had come for the trade union movement to start defending its own rights vigorously. Blind loyalty to a party was not in keeping with the spirit of trade unionism. “The aftermath of the recent increase in standard wage rates shows a relative decline rather than an Improvement in the economic position of the workers,” the report said. The object of the application was to restore or preserve a position which had been lost by the workers through the Government’s failure effectively to control prices. In failing to act in this direction, the Government chose to hurt its supporters. In lifting sub--1 sidies on various commodities immediately after the court’s pronouncement, it harmed itself. , “This is not the only occasion on which the Government has weakened the Labour movement—witness the recent amendment to the Industr 1 al; Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The passage of this Bill through Parliament was proceeded with m the face of a storm of opposition from the national council of the Federation of Labour, and many of the. Labour Party’s most important affiliations. , 11. “ Vigilance has always been the watchword of the workers, and your executive is of the opinion that it is high time for the New Zealand trade union movement to begin defending its own rights more vigorously and become more resolute in respect to its aspirations, otherwise it is liable to lose its effectiveness as an independent loyalty to a political party, however progressive it may appear, is not in keeping with the spirit of trade unionism. Our independence must be maintained at all times.- Only in this way can we hope to advance to a new social order.”