The Rev 



EVIEWS 



TBMT^ERAJSCE AI^D GEJSERAL LIFE ASSURANCE BUULDING, SW ANSToy 



STREET, MEl^BOVRT^E, 



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THE HISTORY OF THE MONTH. 



The Queensland 

 Strike. 



Melbourne, M.Trch 21, 191 2. 



The Queensland strike is over. It 

 lizzled out Avoefullv for days 

 after it had to all practical pur- 

 poses ended, vet the strike leaders 

 kept u]) a game of l)luff with the 

 emplo\ ers. hoping - to win some concessions. But 

 what concessions could be gi\en to men who struck 

 for no good reason, especially when their places 

 were fille,'!? Surely never did a strike fail .so igno- 

 miniously. In nearly all cases, when men deigned 

 to offer to go back to work, they found employers 

 with full lists of men, and in some cases the appli- 

 cants found flu'ir places taken bv the verv tramway 

 men in s\m])ath\ with w'hom they had gone out on 

 strike. The unions made a last attempt to insist 

 that tho.se who had taken their pjlaces should be dis- 

 cliarged, and that union men should be reinstated.- 

 but they failed. This is one of the most imper- 

 tinent demands that blatant unioni.sm can make. 

 From tlie view' point of the unionists it is inconceiv- 

 able that they should go out when thev please, 

 dislocate business, and throw a State into turmoil, 

 and find open doors when thev are willing to go 

 Iiack. From the view-point of the men who are 

 working, it would be a most unjust thing that thev 

 who heljjed to keep things going in a difficulty 

 should lie discharged when things are smooth again. 

 i''rom the view-point of the emplovers, it would be 

 ba.se ingr.-ititudc to iiirn on the streets men who had 

 come to their .lid and saxed them from loss and 

 inconxenience. 



Il is good to know Ihai the eni- 

 The r;mplo\crs' ployers are standing together over 

 Determination. ,|,,. matter. Whatever 'rights and 

 privileges unions have, thev must 

 stand still at the line where the right of a man to 

 emplov whfim he choo.ses is invaded. .Standards of 

 wages and |)ro])er conditions of work are projier. 

 Without them injustices will creep in. Iw; it w.T-uld 

 be an .abrogation of inherent rights if emj)lovers were 

 comiH'lled to emi)lo\ onlv men who were su])])lied 

 l)y the Trades Hall. That is the ideal this institu- 

 tion is cr.-ning after. Hut ue ha\e no fear that the 

 da\ uill i-\fr he likil\ In ronie when an emplover 



Photo.'i 



JIAJOR C.\HILL, 



JueeiiBLind Coniniissioner of Police, whose foresight and 

 vigorous measures saved Brisbane from chaos. 



will have to ,Lsk, " Arf vi lu a])]iroved b\ the 

 Trades Hall?" when he has an appli(\int 

 for work before him. The fact that union- 

 ism comprises a nlalivcly small ]iro]iortion of 

 labotn- shows how luijust would be an insistence that 

 an employer sliould emjjloy only union men. But 

 the Hrisliane implo\ers have dealt that demand a 

 tremendous blnw. Thev have heartened up em- 

 ployers all over ihe Commonwealth, and made them 

 realise their slrength in this respect. Effort after 

 efl'ori was mad.' bv tlie uni<ins to compel emplovers 

 when engaging men. to accept only unionists, but the 

 emjiloyers steadily refused t<i recognise the princi])le. 

 N'ow thev have all the laliour fhey need, through 

 staniling 10 their guns. And a \'ery different condi- 

 tion of things exists to-dav to that which ruled in the 

 first few days of the strike, when the strike com- 

 niittie announced that it wivuld graciously permit 

 traders to c,irr\ on business under cert.dn conditions. 



