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LABOUR IN MADRAS


lead them or who shall be the President or the Secretary of the Union ? The Tramwaymen, having organized a Union of their own, have a right to elect a President. It is said we do not want outsiders to meddle with our affairs. I want you to realize why an outsider is 'not wanted. Because the moment a man is made President from one of the workers of the Tramway Company, that man will be a marked man. His promotion will be slow and will only come at very lengthy periods. His service itself will be insecure. The Secretary of the Tramway Union, a man who organized the Union, who is the Secretary and who was the Secertary at the time of the first strike, was turned out on some pretext. If the Secretary was turned out, much more so will this be the case with the President. There is another argument. It is this. Tramwaymen while they have a culture of their own, while they understand their interests, while they know what their grievances are, while they can discuss these grievances among themselves, are not yet in a position to put their case before their employers and the public. The very fact that the men came to organize themselves into a Union shows that all those previous efforts have miserably failed. The very fact that they came and formed into a Union shows that the treatment meted out to the Tramwaymen was not found satisfactory. What is the objection even if a political agitator organized them? A political agitator does not go necessarily for the benefit of his own political agitation into their midst. And even if he did go, what is that to Sir Clement Simpson or to Mr. Powell ? Why should not the Indian labourers be organized into Labour Unions of all kinds and sorts ? Now you will support the