THE FEDERATION OF LABOR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3628, 14 September 1912, Page 7

THE FEDERATION OF LABOR.

“NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT.” [PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH. Sept. 13. Air. Semple, organiser for the New Zealand Federation of Labor, addressed about 50 men at. the Addington railway workshops during the lunch hour this afternoon. He dealt at some length with the genesis of the W«aihi strike. . . The. new unions under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act formed at Waihi and Kaitangata, lie said, were attempts to '‘bust up” industrial democracy by the power of the law. It was said that the Federation' was against the Court, hut there were loyal members of the Federation who were suporters of the Court, but it was also true that at Ataikino an attempt was being made to remove the term "scab” by the substitution of

“arbitration ists.” Those men were scabs, and scabs of the worst type, since they were trying to smash industrial democracy. Referring to the support received lor tho men at AYaihi on strike and those locked out at Reef ton, he said the response was wonderful, and surprised the whole country. Already £15,000 was subscribed to help the men, and that in the middle of winter. The Federation was going on with tho contest. Tho coalminers, who understood the position, were supporting the Federation. They knew what it- was to go before the Arbitration Court to he met by the sneers of class-biassed Judges. The AVaikino scabs were protected by the bludgeons of the police. No one who resorted to such tactics was a man. Concluding Air Semple' said the Federation had surprised the country and if tho police were used toe much it would surprise tho workmen and the country as a whole still more. “We are not going down without a fight, and if we do so wo will leave our mark on tho industrial history of tho country,” ho concluded.