INDUSTRIAL EMERGENCY COUNCIL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25269, 22 August 1947, Page 6

INDUSTRIAL EMERGENCY COUNCIL

The conference recommended the Government to establish a National Industrial Emergency Council to stimulate production to the maximum. When the recommendation was put to the meeting of about 200 delegates only two hands were raised in dissent. One the motion was Mr H. Barnes, president of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union, and the other was a delegate who was later stated as not having authority to cast a vote for his union. The conference also asked the Government to consider the reintroduction of the cargo control emergency regulations and the appointment of committees to be responsible for the clearance of wharf and railway. sheds to prevent congestions. Such organisations, it was added, should have the powers of similar committees established during the war. “Because of the deterioration in the dollar position since this conference started and of the further action taken by the United Kingdom to meet the situation, this conference deems a state of emergency to have arisen,” said Mr F. P. Walsh, chairman of the trades and production committee. “It is felt that the revival of certain emergency regulations designed to expedite the handling of produce for Great Britain is justifiable and necessary.” The proposal to revive these emergency measures was wrong, and it was not. calculated to bring the majority of the workers of New Zealand behind the conference, said Mr Barnes. It was not right for delegates, some representing workers on a 40-hour week, some working even less, and others not working at all, to tell the watersiders, who were working from 59 to 68 hours a week, what to do. Challenged by the Prime Minister (Mr P. Fraser) that the watersiders had not been mentioned in the proposals, Mr Barnes said that such a reference had been made in the discussions in committee. He had no mandate to commit the workers to a policy which would create a body that could override industrial awards and agreements, and he suggested that no other union representative there was ready to do that either.

The only body which would make decisions on waterfront work was a Waterfront Industry Commission, with representatives of the men who knew the conditions, said Mr Barnes. For months the watersiders had been waiting for such a body to be set up, and unsettled disputes were piling up all the time. “We have a shortage of labour on the waterfront at Auckland, and for about three months we have been endeavouring to get 250 members admitted into the union, but before we can the employers have got to agree to their coming in," added Mr Barnes. “Such is the constitution under which we operate.” Mr F. E. Craig, representing the New Zealand Timber Workers’ Union, said that he did not altogether approve of the proposal; nor did he think 'hie organisation would agree with it. However, he thought that if the element of compulsion were removed he could guarantee to get whatever men were required to work during the weekends. ' Mr R. Eddy, president of the New Zealand Workers’ Union, said that the watersiders could accept his assurance that there was no suggestion that they were not working long enough. The wharf sheds were not being cleared quickly enough largely because of the shortage of other storage space held by importers. The meeting had to take a realistic view of the crisis that was approaching at great speed. Referring to the shipping position in his introductory remarks, Mr Walsh said that evidence showed considerable bottlenecks on the waterfront The watersiders worked a 59-hour week, but those in allied occupations worked only a 40-hour week. Measures were needed to relieve the present congestion on the waterfront. The proposed regulations would give power to direct merchants to open their warehouses on Saturday mornings. During war such a committee had done excellent work. “The calamity which faces us is so grave that some objections become microscopic,'” said the Prime Minister. “All I can say is that this country has a job to do and it must be < done.”