Labour Discipline

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25206, 10 June 1947, Page 6

Labour Discipline

At the annual conference of the Federation of Labour on Friday the Prime Minister appealed to the trade unions for whole-hearted support of the Government and the subordination of sectional interests to those of the whole country. It would be wrong to suppose that Mr Fraser’s appeal was prompted only by the difficult position of his Government, now holding the narrowest of majorities in the House of Representatives, although Mr Fraser came nearer than on any previous occasion to admitting that the industrial situation had got out of hand. No Government, he said, could administer successfully if “confronted with “ and harassed by a series of indus- “ trial situations such as had arisen “in the last 12 months”. A Government with a precarious majority would obviously be more sensitive to this kind of trouble than a Government with a safe margin of seats; but, political considerations aside, there is the clearest possible call in New Zealand to-day for order and discipline in industry. A country in which production is already hampered by shortages of manpower and electricity and by many other difficulties cannot afford the wilful waste caused by strikes, stoppages, and go-slow. Mr Fraser asked no one to surrender his right to seek economic and social progress, but he condemned those sections of workers who “ tried to jump ahead ” of their- fellows, “ regardless of the “ interests of the rest of the com- “ munity ”, and those who believed that “ greater gains for industrial “ workers could be won by deliber- “ ately creating discontent, even in good conditions, and by causing “ chaos, hoping they would further “their own concept of revolution- “ ary action ”. In referring to, '■ statements by sectional trade “union leaders about forming a “ combination with similar sections “ of workers in other countries, in- “ eluding the foreign countries of “ the Pacific, apparently with the “ intention of enforcing the will and “ decisions of this section upon all “ the people of New Zealand ”, Mr Fraser pointed an accusing finger straight at the Waterside Workers’ Union.

The overwhelming majority of New Zealanders will welcome warmly Mr Fraser’s appeal to the sense of responsibility of organised Labour. He did not go too far when he suggested that indiscipline within the trade unions must lead to the collapse of the Labour movement, which is essential to the healthy democracy of the country. Mr Fraser’s appeal was directed specifically to a large section of the people who support his Government. But he sedmed at times to be in danger of believing that he was speaking to the whole body. It is true that union members themselves have much to lose through the irresponsible actions of militants within their own ranks, but they at least have the protection of an industrial law which assures them reasonable wages and working conditions. Many more who support the Labour Government, and many who oppose it, have no protection. They are the real victims of the industrial black-

mnail which has been practised shamelessly by some unions in recent months.