Evening star., 1941-09-12
Wartime Strikes Hit
By Labor Leader
In lNtraIia
PM Mic Confidence as
Result of Patriotism
Stressed by Curtin
BY ROYAL ARCH GUNNISON.

BY ROYAL ARCH GUNNISON.
CANBERRA, Australia, Aug. 26,-
By Air Mail to The Star and
N.A.NAD.-John Curtin, leader of
Australia's powerful Labor Party
told the writer he had a message for
the average laboring man OF the
democracies.
Mr.. Curtin is noted in Australia
for his common sense. And Aus
tralia is a country where trades
unions have everything sewed up
with few exceptions. Either you're
q member of the union or you don't
work here-and the same goes for
New Zealand.
Contrasted to the A. F. LIS Will
ham Green or the c. I. O.'S Philip
Murray or John Lewis, John Curtin
Is q plain man-no hustle, no rush,
no press agents. A former news
paperman, he represents a con-
stituency in the western reaches of
Australia. He's keen, alert. He
knows what he wants to say and
how he wants to say it. He's con-
vincing.
Trade unionism must not per-
nit itself to slip back due to greed
for power during this time OF war
effort" he said. In viewing the
American labor scene. I would like
Ill
they stand to lose more in public
confidence and more in personal
gains, for which they have fought
so hard through wartime strikes
than by any other means.
Warns Against Disunity.
Furthermore, no organization or
individuals ever gained anything by
being disunited. We have gone
through violence, internal splits and
all the rest here. Now we are the
single, dominant political power in
the country, and we have labor
governments in several Of the states.
I'VE have our systems of arbitra-
tion courts and awards. We have
tried to eliminate racketeerS and
labor rackets. Some people now
call us a conservative labor move
ment. But whatever they call us,
we have learned through bitter ex-
perience. If America is ever to have
a powerful labor movement, it must
be united under one banner. 1t
must be patriotic to the core. And
that is not casting any aSperSions,
but the public must not be made
to believe that labor is the ferment-
ing ground for agitators and revolu-
tionists. Labor must be the rock
on which solid government working
for social gains is formed"
Different Spirit.
7 asked him about England and
the defense industry problems there
Mr. Curtin said he felt that one
could not compare England's or
even AuStralia's or Canadas work.
men with Americas because the
United States is not officially at
war. There is a different spirit
about a country when it is at war.
And it's your choice to come in
with arms or to continue helping
U.s. by the. manufacture and pro-
dustions of material .c44"
He said he felt personally that
the statement emanating from the
Roosevelt Churchill meeting in the
Atlantic must have been a source
OF great uplift of spirit and in
spiration to working people all
over the world, especially in Europe.
More stress should be given to q
working mans Interpretation of
what the Roosevelt-C Churchill broad
statement would mean to the future
OF the laboring man."
Minor Strikes in Australia.
On the question of what caused
wartime strikes. Mr.. Curtin said
that. of course. he could not speak
for the United States, but that it
was his studied opinion that war
industries strikes in Australia were
not only minor in nature but hardly
serious in content.
Most of the stoppage in Aus
tralia," he said. has been of what
VIC Cd4l q pSyCllOlOSICdl NATURE, uue
to the strain of long hours, some
'testy' foremen who have been ex-
hauSted themselves and employers
who have become irritable. When
demands are made and rejected
under such strain, the fur is GER
tain to fly. OF course, some de-
mands are real. Just as some re-
5ections are necessary. But we
have been fortunate to find a for
mula and resume work.