UNION PANEL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 180, 31 July 1940, Page 8

UNION PANEL.

COUNCIL'S PLAN.

Seek Amicable Agreement On

Proposal. AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE. United Press Association. —Copyright. (Received 11.30 a.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. The inter-State executive of the Australasian Council of Trade Unions has decided to seek an amicable agreement with Mr. R. G. Menzies, the Prime Minister, on, the question of a Trade Union Defence Advisory Panel. Mr. Menzies will be asked to give effect to the plan to which he agreed before it was submitted to the Trades and Labour Council of each State. He will be informed that the majority of the Labour Councils have adopted the plan formulated by the Austrulian Council of Trade Unions and the recent conference of Federal unions, and as a result the plan will now become the policy of the trade union movement.

The seven individual unions which agreed to co-operate with the Federal Government in one major panel will be urged to refrain from having any negotiations with the Federal Government pending advice from the Australasian Council of Trades Unions.

On Saturday Mr. Menzies announced that a trade "union advisory panel had been established following his direct appeal to the leaders of the asveu key unions.

NATIONAL CABINET. Formation In Australia Is Unlikely. LABOUR SLAMMED THE DOOR. SYDNEY, July 30. According to the Canberra representative of "The Sun," the Leader of the Federal Opposition, Mr. John Curtin, has slammed the door against the offer of the Prime Minister, Mr. R. G. Menzies, to form a National Government with five or six seats for Labour.

"The complete lnck of cohesion in the present "Federal" Ministry makes talk of a National Government a sheer absurdity," said Mr. Curtin. "The Prime Minister's offer has obviously been made for the purpose of avoiding an election.

"The Labour party fully recognises Mr. Menziea* responsibilities, and we are prepared to give him the maximum of constructive support, but he has around him colleagues and associates whose attitude is more destructive of national unity than anything the Opposition has said, could say or would say."