TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 145, 21 June 1934, Page 6

TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.

A BIG ISSUE. LABOUR ORGANISATION IN U.S.A. (By PRO BOXO PUBLICO.) It is very difficult to get a line on labour organisation in the United States. When yon are living in a country you ought to know what is happening in the way of' social movements, bnt even the American magazines give varying accounts of the position. Theoretically, the of worker organisation and collective bargaining are in universal operation now. Actually, as the reports of strikes and lock-outs show, these principles are being strenuously resisted by some of the corporations. The right of workers to organise and to choose their own representatives to meet employers is now, of course, recognised by law, and the law particularly declares that "discrimination by employers against workers owing to 'their labour affiliations or for any other 'unjust' reason shall be barred." But this has not prevented employers from inducing fiomo workers to hive off from the mail, unions and to form separate associations, and, of course, while employers arc required to meet the representatives of the men in confereucc, they ar o not compelled to come to agreement with them. Theoretically, a Government organisation can step in and dictate what wages shall be paid and what hours woiked, but the machinery does, not seem to be functioning smoothly. I am wondering, therefore, what the outcome of the present movement will be. Unionism no new thing in the United States, and collective bargaining has been the rule in quite a number of industries, but except in certain highly skilled trades the employers managed to keep the "open shop" until last year. The fact of the matter was that the country was prosperous and wages in the skilled trades were so high that the workers may well have been indifferent to the value of organisation and collective bargaining.

When the new industrial legislation was brought into operation last year it was freely prophesied that employers generally would not willingly surrender their freedom, and the comparative scaso with which the law was enforced was surprising. Now that its newness has worn oIT, the expected battle is developing, and it seems to be questionable at the moment whether labour will bo able to hold the ground it has won. It has the Administration on its side, and it won a substantial victory in the motor industry, but there are shrewd observers who believe that big industry in America is more powerful than the Government.

The real test cannot conic just yet, however. It will not come until there is a change of Government. But if the next Administration, whether Democrat or Republican,' carries out tlio present policy, the right of labour to organise will be pretty firmly established. Tjabour should be able to confirm its status in the next six or seven years, and thereafter it should be strong enough to hold it»s ground.

Big issues are being decided in America in these days, and this is by no means the least of them.