Industrial Order In Australia

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24793, 6 February 1946, Page 6

Industrial Order In Australia

It may be assumed that, by announcing its intention of supporting the printing trade employees’ apl plication for a 40-hour week award, > the Commonwealth Government has made it almost certain that the Arbitration Court will turn from the specific claim to a general inquiry. It is not so readily to be assumed, however, that, if the Court holds this inquiry, the result will be a decision in favour of the 40-hour week and of its introduction on a broad industrial front, as Mr Chifley prefers, for reasons which may fit the oolitical facts better than those of a diverse industrial system. Quite conceivably, full, independent inquiry might show that some industries could stand the 40-hour week and others could not. Such a finding, and awards consistent with it, will not avoid the political difficulties that Mr Chiflev fears. Again, a decision generally against the 40-hour week w’ould raise them in the most dangerous form possible. Labour has already been battering at the Government to legislate for the 40-hour week. Mr Chifley has, with laudable steadiness, directed it to the Court. If the Court dashes Labour’s expectations, the dangerous reaction against the arbitration system will certainly be intensified; and it is hard to see how fresh outbreaks of industrial disorder will be avoided. The Australian Workers’ Union, last week, voted out a resolution submitted by the Federal secretary, endorsing arbitration and conciliation. The A.C.T.U. has drafted a bill which, in effect, will substitute for the judicial basis of the present arbitration system a very diffe» ent one, making conciliation commissioners (as public servants) the ultimate arbiters of industrial conditions. It is one of the risks of the situation now developing, therefore, that there will emerge from it a violent attack on the Arbitration Court, forcing on the Government a choice between sacrificing it, or maiming it, and widespread strikes. In the meantime, the Government has resumed its preparations for the industrial conference which was forestalled by the disastrous coal, steel, and shipping strikes. There is much that such a conference can do. Its greatest possible achievement, however, would be to reach a sound and complete agreement on the fundamental issue of arbitration—on th»* “ streamlining ’’ reforms that are in fact desirable, and on the loyal use of the system, whatever the outcome of the Melbourne proceedings.