UNION FUNDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 October 1939, Page 9

UNION FUNDS

CONTRIBUTIONS TO LABOUR NEWSPAPERS. ALLEGED VICTIMISATION OF MINORITIES. (By Telegraph-Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. A.n extended debate arose in the House of Representatives yesterday on charges by Mr W. J. Polson (Stratford) that minorities in industrial unions had been victimised by being compelled to contribute financially to causes which individuals might not wish to support. The debate took place during the consideration in Committee of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill No 2.

Particular reference was made by Mr Polson to the campaign for funds for Labour daily newspapers. He said that some trade union secretaries had decided that contribution should be compulsory and not voluntary, and most ingenious methods had been adopted to make union members subscribe. In one case, for example, the contribution to the union had been increased by 10s, with a proviso that those who subscribed to the Labour daily scheme' would be exempt from the extra contribution.

In another case, that of a Wellington union, a large number of girls was being threatened with being driven ou of the trade if they did not subscribe he said. The Wellington waterside workers, however, were strong enough to resist, and he understood that onlj 500 out of 1300 members have been in favour of contributing. The Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, said it had been long established tha members of unions had the right t< contribute funds for the establishment of newspapers. They had done that for a long time, and it had been fairlydone. Objections from members ol unions came from people who had always been opposed to any form of unionism, but those same people had never refused to hold their hands ou for the benefits won by their brothers and sisters. ’ The establishment of a daily Press to advocate the cause ot the men and women who toiled and struggled was sufficiently justified for the spending of money in that connection. He would not object to the Farmers’ Union or anybody else doing the same.

An amendment moved by Mr Polson to make it unlawful for a union to compel members to subscribe to part.) undertakings, was lost on a d ivision.