WINSTON, UNIONIST

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 483, 12 October 1928, Page 9

WINSTON, UNIONIST

JOINS THE BRICKLAYERS ENTITLED TO STRIKE PAY British Official "Wireless RUGBY, Wednesday. Mr. Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is to become a trades unionist. In the summer vacation he helped to build a house on his estate at Westerham by laying the bricks. As a bricklayer he has since been the subject of many political cartoons. Now Mr. Lane, Mayor of Battersea, has invited Mr. Churchill to join the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers, and Mr. Churchill, who incidentally took a leading part in suppressing the general strike of two years ago, has appreciated the humour of the idea and Consented to become a member of the union. In Mr. Lane’ 3 letter he said he was aware that Mr. Churchill would not be sufficiently competent to carry on (he work of a fully 1 qualififed bricklayer, but he thought, as time passed, he would improve his craftsmanship in a similar manner to those who had entered the trade under the Government’s adult apprenticeship scheme. He did not expect him to spend very much time at his training, particularly in view of the position he held in the Government. AMERICAN PRECEDENT In asking' Mr. Churchill to join. the Building Trades Union (says an Xustralian and New Zealand Press Asso-ciation-United Service message). Mr. Lane, who is the local secretary, said all good workmen became members of the organisations with a view to keeping up the traditions of honourable occupations, such as bricklaying. He recalled the fact that Mr. McKinley, a former President of the United States, became a trades unionist before he could lay a f juudation stone. Mr. Churchill will pay an entrance fee of 5s and his contribution will be 9d a week. He will receive 20s a week if he were called out on strike and benefits if be were unemployed.