SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25089, 22 January 1947, Page 7

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

NEGOTIATIONS IN AUSTRALIA METHODS QUESTIONED BY PUBLIC Mom C. ». MSNTIPLAY, Special Corraapondent. N.Z.P.A. SYDNEY. Jan. 21. Although the atmosphere in a num- . of , ! nd V st 9 al dispute* affectltlt most of Australia has cleared almost miraculously during the last few days, prospects are no less unsettled, ■rfie record of negotiations is a bright one on the surface. The gas workers are back in proauction in three cities which were bereft almost completely of gas. Today, Sydney housewives may even obtain meat although at increased cost, and workers are assured that for a few weeks at least they may travel to their places of employment without the necessity of begging for lifts, reon trans P°rt. supplied by soma employers, or walking. Taxi-drivers have abandoned their boycott against a return to peace-time editions a ® regards multiple hiring, ahd the waterside workers have condescended to shelve their grievances concerning appearance money and holidays. Milk suppliers have grudgingly consented to withhold their threat of depriving Sydney and Newcastle of milk. At the moment, the only trouble* on the horizon concern shipyard and foundry workers, and postal workers, and it seems that the last-named dispute will be settled without much difficulty. It is the method by which most of these disputes have been disposed of by the Federal and State Governments that leaves the Australian citizen puzzled and disgruntled. Nearly all the strikes, closures, and threats were directed either openly or indirectly at the Governments. To the citizen it now appears that the Governments have avoided trouble temporarily by buying off the striker* at the expense of the taxpayers. The most curious case of ail is that of the meat retailers, who closed their shops ostensibly in protest against the lack of price controls of livestock and the inadequate policing of control* of wholesale meat. Quite unexplainably the Federal Government found a solution in increasing the subsidy and raising price ceilings on Wholesale meat, and authorising an even bigger increase in the prices of retail tnest. Butchers are not happy «bout the result because they claim the black market has merely been encouraged to lift its own illegal prices. Wholesalers are not being policed more closely, and the consumer loses both ways by having to pay more. Nobody appears satisfied, but the butcher*’ shops are open again. Milk supplies were assured when the Government agreed to pay almost the full amount claimed as subsidy to the milk producers. This subsidy comes directly out of the pocket of foe taxpayer.

The gas strikers caused discomfort and loSs to nearly half the Australian population before the Government secured a settlement by giving them some of their demands and promising an Arbitration Court investigation or others.

Sydney tramwaymen were prompted to strike because their Melbourne colleagues secured time and a half for Saturday work after a nine-day stoppage. Before they walked off the trams the Minister of Transport had agreed to half their claims, but that was not enough. It was the resolute disapproval of the rest of the trade union movement that sent them back to work.

The possibility of many other disputes developing into illegal trials of strength depends not on a firm Government attitude, but on whether or not militant unionists will honour the promises extracted from the Government under pressure. While this attitude prevails citizens can never be sura of transport, power, or food. TIMBER FIRMS IN SYDNEY ALLEGATION OF BLACK MARKETING (Rec. 10 p.m.) SfYDNEY, January 21. “A Royal Commission should be established immediately to investigate the black marketing of timber firms, because politicians and public servants are seriously involved In the ramp,” said the president of the Master Builders' Association (Mr C. G. E. Paynter) to-day. He added that black market timber vards were stacked with thousands of super, feet, while legitimate timber merchant* were unable to get stocks. Illegal increases were stated as £5O for a cottage and £2OO for a block of flats. Austrian Composer and Nazi*.— Richard Strauss, the composer, who is now an Austrian citizen, i* to appear before a denazification court within a fortnight to settle the controversy Over whether he worked for the Nazi*. —Munich, January 20.