A Better Status For Scientists

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 24 (Supplement)

A Better Status For Scientists

SCIENTISTS in England are following the lead of the trade unions by organising a ■widespread movement for better status, wages, and conditions for those who labour in scientific fields. An appeal is being circulated to all iirectly engaged in scientific work urging them to join the National Union of Scientific Workers. Signatories to the appeal include more than a hundred distinguished scientists and professional men, some of whom are: Sir William Sir Charles Parsons Beveridge, Sir Horace Plunkett Sir William Bragg Sir Arthur Shirley Sir Richard Gregory Mi’ H. (.. Wells Sir Robert Hadfield Prof- Julian Huxley Viscount Haldane Prof. Mottram Sir Hugo Hirst Prof. Arthur Sir Max Muspratt Thompson Sir David Bruce Sir Horace Darwin Sir Humphrey Prof. W. H. Lccles. Rolleston Formed in 191 S, the union has less than 1000 members. It is hoped to persuade 10,000 scientific workers in the country to join. “We consider the union should be entirely non-political, but with definite economic and cultural aims—namely, to improve the status of men and women in science and to aid the cause of science itself,” the appeal says. “Some non-members still ask whether to join the union would not mean being called out on strike in certain situations. “The strike is not a possible weapon for scientific workers, and the union has never imagined the possibility of its employment.” But though the strike is ruled out and the association is not registered as a trade union, there is plenty of evidence that those behind the movement demand a little more “class consciousness” amongst scientific workers. “They should at least be as classconscious as is the medical profession,” comments Mr J. W. N. Sullivan, the scientific writer, in reference to the appeal.