TRANSPORT WORKERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 January 1919, Page 8

TRANSPORT WORKERS.

ONE BIG ORGANISATION • TO COVER ALL FORMS OF F J j' XIiANiiPORT LABOR. Christchnrch, Jan. 17, At il meeting under the auspices of. the Transport Workers' Advisory Board, railway men, watersiders, seamen, drivers, and. tramwaymcn were represented. It was stated .by Mr. Roberts, of the Watarsiders' Federation, that the object is of the board were to organise all transport workers into one federation and use that organisation for the benefit of each unit to get an adequate return for his labor; also to improve the -working conditions and shorten the hours of labor. They had all sections with them, with the exception of locomotive engineers and firemen, and it was believed they would affiliate within twelve months. There would have been serious industrial disputes but for the intervention of the Transport Workers' Federation. It had been the means of getting several men reinstated after they had been ordered off the wharves by the military authorities. In connection with the recent Dunedin tramway dispute the local union was unable to effect a settlement, but on the question in dispute being handed over to the Transport Federation a settlement was arrived at immediately. The only people to-day who appreciated the Arbitration Court were the employers, and the Transport Advisory Board had been set up by the workers to take its place. No section of affiliated workers would be able to enter into a dispute without consulting the others. The Transport Advisory Boajd was out to stop the formation of further craft unions. '■ Other sections of industry were organised on craft lines, but the board asked them to group on. industrial lines in nv.'-~ that they might be able to form an efficient labor organisation that can speak with no uncertain voice for the whole of organised labor in the country. The object it had in view for the future was to own and control the industries Mr Glover said that many forma of organisation had been adopted, and all had served their day It was no use tryipg to keep an organisation in existence when it no longer expressed the desires of the worker:; .They could not act; by sentiment. One of their objects was to knock down the eighteen affiliated anion* and register one waterside workers' union with a board in each port the same as the A.S.R.S The Transport Federation should be composed of all workers in the particular industry, namely, waterside workers, railwayman, seamen, tramwaymen, and drivers. The miners and the agricultural workers should link up with them and form the National Council of Labor,