MR ARMSTRONG’S PART

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22271, 9 December 1937, Page 12

MR ARMSTRONG’S PART

Settlement Of

Dispute FEDERATION HELD RESPONSIBLE “Men Have Not Played The Game” [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON. December 8. The steps he had taken to bring about a settlement of the Auckland waterfront dispute were detailed by the Minister for Labour (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong) in the House of Representatives to-day. The Minister said the men concerned had not played the game with the Government and their fellow unionists in New Zealand. By their actions they had assisted to wreck the prospects of workers generally. For that reason he took a serious view of the situation. “I am no more in favour of industrial disputes than the member for Stratford, and I have done a good deal more in my time to bring about industrial peace than he is likely to do if he lives for a thousand years,” said Mr Armstrong. “The terms of an agreement should be strictly adhered to, and it is the duty of the Labour Department to see that agreements are observed. Workers are not the only people who break agreements. “I heard nothing of the dispute until the Saturday,” added Mr Armstrong. “I immediately made representations to the shipping companies, and also got into touch with the Watersiders’ Federation, meeting in conference in Wanganui. I did everything possible to bring the parties together, with a view to effecting a settlement.” Mr Poison: You did your best, and failed.

The Minister: Your best would not be as good as my worst. Companies’ Attitude

Tiie result of Saturday’s negotiations, said Mr Armstrong, was that the union advised the men to return to work on the Monday, but when they did so, the companies said they proposed to engage new men. Two days previously the same kind of dispute had happened in Wellington, but the employers had allowed the men to work. The workers at Auckland had said that if the employers insisted on the men they wanted to work the ship concerned, they would not allow men to work the others. “Had it not been for the fact that all the leading officials of the union were at the conference at Wanganui. I hardly believe the trouble would have occurred,” said Mr Armstrong. “On my recommendation lire conference allowed two Auckland delegatus to return to Auckland immediately, and the representatives of shipping companies agreed to go to Auckland at the same time. They met immediately on Monday to discuss points in the dispute. “1 Was in touch with them on the telephone, and they told me it was a very wet day, and that it did not matter very much if the dispute were not settled that day. as it was too wet to work. The member for Stratford has talked about the delay in loading of the farmers’ produce; but at the most produce was held up for three or four hours this morning.” Mr Poison; Twenty-four ships were idle.

Mr Armstrong: They were wet days, and the ships would not be worked. Message to Mr Roberts “When I thought sufficient progress was not being made with the negotiations,” said Mr Armstrong. “I again got into touch with Mr J. Roberts at Wanganui, and told him the Government held the federation responsible, and that we wanted him to proceed to Auckland. Mr Roberts arrived there this morning, and he apparently conveyed a message from the Government as to the action it would take if the dispute were not settled. The Government would go into the matter in the very near future, and do everything possible to put a stop to what had been happening in the past. A union that had a clause in an agreement at its own request, whereby disputes were to bo referred to a disputes committee without a stoppage of work, had a right to observe that condition. It it did not do so, it was not playing the game by its own union, th: Government, or the people of the country. “If a union has no move control over its members than to allow little gangs of men to lake the law into their own hands, and to cause holdups, then it should not be allowed to retain its registration,” said Mr Armstrong. “People who do that sort of thing are betrayers of every decent principle of unionism, and should be excelled from the union.” The Minister for Lands (the Hon. F Langstonc): And the employers, too. Mr Armstrong: The same principle applies tt employers. The Government, said Mr Armstrong, had accomplished a good deal for the watersiders and other workers, including the men Involved in the Auckland dispute. Every effort had been made to settle the dispute as soon as possible in the interests of industrial peace, and for the benefit of the people of the country generally, and the trade union movement in particular.