TROUBLE FEARED.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19915, 30 April 1930, Page 16

TROUBLE FEARED.

AUSTRALIAN WATERFRONT. TEST FOR GOVERNMENT. (MOM OUB OWM COEBESrOKDENT.) SYDNEY, April 2-1. The last has not yet been beard of the upheaval ou the waterfront, which in 1928 brought about an almost ruinous dislocation of Australia's seaborne trade. From that particular trouble Sydney was free-mainly owing to the foresight of oflieials who .aw tbe inevitable in Melbourne, Adelaide and Newcastle there were serious riots, and a very deliberate attempt to break down law and order. It was at the most critical period of the dispute that the shipowners.decided to employ free labour, and the, tree labourers, particularly a number of foreigners were brutally attached in Melbourne. . . The origin of the dispute was simple, but showed the absolute arrogance of trade unionism in its worst form. A conference of the Waterside Workers Federation was called, and it instructed its members to repudiate an award ot the Federal Arbitration Court as far as it concerned the appointment of picking ud places. The Union took up the view that the award—really the lawmust not be obeyed unless it suited the Union to so obey. The shipowners decided to adhere to the award, and bo a strike occurred. Before long the community was faced with the problem of deciding whether defiance of law by the Waterside Unions was to be allowed to cause ruin and privation unchecked, or whether an effort was to bo made to keep industry going. It was not long before all the free labour required for the wharves was forthcoming. Then followed the riots, in which the strikers resorted to violence. The unionists were defeated, but the free labour has remained, and work has proceeded more smoothly than ever before. The election of the Federal Labour Government filled the defeated strikers with a fresh hope. They looked to the Government to take up their case, and after considerable delay this the Government has done. It has issued a prpclamation proclaiming as picking up places those places desired by the Unionists, and for which they went out on strike. But tho shipowners, who are pledged to retain the services of the volunteers, have shown defiance of the Government. The Federal Government says it is dotorrained that the owners shall obey the law, which means that they are siding with tho unionist lawbreakers. And so it is that a very interesting position has arisen. A real test of strength is likely as the owners will do everything in their power to prevent the volunteers from being squeezed out. Too fight has only jugfc begun. The owners in South Australia are countering any move by the Federal Government by deciding to employ a permanent staff of wharf labourers, who will bo paid a fixed sum each week, and any overtime they may earn. When surplus labour is required they will go to tbe unionists. Tho same policy will probably be put into force in Melbourne. The experiment of a permanent labour force on the wharves will be watched with interest from New Zealand. It was talked o£ ten, twenty, thirty years ago.