journalists of divorcing a statement from its context. The phrase, “To Hell with agreements” was coined by the Wellington “Evening Post,” and it furnished a fruitful source of inspiration for hack journalists over a lengthy period of years.
My point then was that the employers never surrendered their right to concerted action, no matter what the nature of an agreement might be, and that similarly the workers should not surrender their right to strike regardless of any existing agreements. There was nothing new in the suggestion; it was as old as the organised Labour Movement, and had been practised throughout the years in all countries; but, judging by the amount of ink devoted by way of attack to the articles referred to, one would imagine it was a doctrine that was being promulgated for the first time.
ESTABLISHING THE ONE BIG UNION
The 1912 Conference assembled at a very critical time in the history of the Federation.
The mining companies at Waihi, enraged at the action of the Federation in abolishing the competitive contract system, decided to launch an attack on the local Union. It is not my intention to deal with this famous strike or the lock-out on the Reefton goldfields, as it has already been fully covered in “The Tragic Story of the Waihi Strike,” other than to say that the shadow of this great battle was ever present among delegates to Conference.
This representative body grappled with the question of establishing the organisation as an Industrial Union, and devoted considerable time to drafting a constitution that would make provision for industrial departments and the government of them.
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