TRADES UNION CONGRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 134, 15 September 1910, Page 5

TRADES UNION CONGRESS.

' UNIONS AND THE GOVERNMENT. "POWER OF WHITE SLAVES." •By Cable—Press Association.—Copyright Received September 14, 10.31 pjn. London, September 14. At the Trades Union Congress the Stevedores' League proposal for the amalgamation of the Congress with the General Federation and the Labor Party was negatived by a small majority. Mr. D. J. Shackleton remarked that the distinctive trade union element proved a decided advantage in approaching successive governments, apart altogether from the political Labor Party organisation. (Cheers.) The * Parliamentary Committee would otherwise always be fighting the Government of the day, Mr. Ben Tillett's resolution to ascertain the opinion of the affiliated unions regarding the practicability of determining all industrial agreements by a given date for each year was carried by 1,500,000 to 445,000. A resolution directing the Parliamentary Committee to ascertain the views ■of all trade unions, and make a recommendation .to next congress concerning the scheme of amalgamating all existing unions with the central executive, elected 1 by the combined unions and empowered to act unitedly, whether a strike or a lock-out occurred, was carried by 1,175,000 to 256,000. The appearance on the platform of three women chair-makers, on strike at Cridley Heath, enlisted warm sympathy, the member for Derbyshire describing the "power of the white slaves in England." A collection was ta'ken at the door, and unions were urged' to contribute support. ALLEGED (UNDERSELLING BY THE SALVATION ARMY. Ldndon, September 13. A number of delegates protested against the Salvation Army Labor Home underselling joiners and glassblowers. THE OSBORNE JUDGMENT. London, September 13. Mr. Shackleton, M.P., informed • the Trades Union Congress that £SOOO was etill required to meet the expenses of the Osborne lawsuit, and a special livy . would have to be made. The Parliamentary Committee reported that the Osborne decision is one of those periodical attacks which labor is accustomed to receive from those whose • duty it is to hold the scales of justice evenly. It is an undisguised attack on a hitherto unchallenged right. Mr. 'Morris, bricklayers' delegates, protested against tjie Osborne decision occupying so much time. He believed the vast majority of the tTade unions fa*, voredi the judgment.—(Loud cries of "No" and Yes.") OUTLOOK FOR TRADES UNIONS. Received September 14, 9.30 p.m. London, September 14. Mr. Snowden, Labor member for Blackburn, in an article on the outlook for trade unionism, emphasises the existence of a crisis far more serious than the Osborne case. Members are seriously divided among themselves. Unless wisdom can prevail and unity be restored, trade unions will he disintegrated and destroyed.