MEN IN SERVICES UNDER-EMPLOYED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 215, 11 September 1945, Page 5

MEN IN SERVICES UNDER-EMPLOYED

TRADE UNION CHARGE

Plea For Acceleration Of British Demobilisation N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 10 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 10. "If the Government holds men in the national forces without employment, then there will be a very grave danger of a repetition of the incidents that marked demobilisation at the end of the last war," declared Mr. Ebby Edwards,- in his presidential address at the opening of the Trade Union Congress at Blackpool.

"There is irrefutable evidence from all quarters that men are at present being held in the armed forces in the Near East, the Far East and the United Kingdom who are seriouslv under-employed. There must be still further acceleration of demobilisation."

Manpower was the key to reconstruction problems, said Mr. Edwards. The Government must handle boldly and firmly the difficulty arising from the unwillingness of large numbers of men and women to return to their pre-war employment because conditions were in strong contrast to those they had enjoyed in their war trades. Improvements Suggested Mr. Edwards expressed the opinion that an essential improvement would have to be made in the wage standard and conditions of employment in many industries to attract back transferred wonkers. He suggested that such improvements should be a condition of Government assistance to industries.

He welcomed the lead the President of the Board of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, had given in the cotton and textile industry by insisting that there must be full consultation on reconstruction between the employers and the unions. He emphasised that co-opera-tion between the trade unions and employers' organisations was essential. "The unions, too, will have to overhaul and modernise their organisations and abandon restrictive practices which impede the maximum production by and full efficiency of industry," he said. . Mr. ' Edwards described the proposed nationalisation of mines as a test for Socialism. "Operating the structure of a nationalised coal mining industry involves in the experiment vital Socialist principles which must of necessity stand the test of industrial efficiency and national welfare" he said. "It must have repercussions on the future organisation and operation of other industries The nationalisation of any industry mtfct increase very seriously the responsibilities of the trade unions concerned."