ARBITRATION ACT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 205, 23 May 1908, Page 7

ARBITRATION ACT.

SPEECH BY DR. FINER LABOUR LEGISLATION REVIEWED.: 'PENALTIES FOR STRIKING. REASONS 'AGAINST IMPRISONMENT. .(Special to The Dominion.) ' ' Wanganui, May 22. Dr. , Findlay, Attorney-Genera »nd Minister for Internal Affairs, deliveret a political speech in . the Opera House to mght. The Mayor (Mr. C. E. Mackay)' pro sided. ' Nearly every seat in tho theatro was occupiqd, and on tho platform wero Mrs Findlay,.tho. Mayoress, Messrs. J. T. Hogar and .C. E. Major,'M.P.'s, and numorous r& preventative citizens. Dr. Findlay was wei' ; rec ®.iy® a ) ii3'-address; being ..punctuated witt applause. ■ ■ •. GREATEST/ PROBLEM OF TH E DAY. , . The Minister described tho wage question • as, tho greatest problem, of "the day, arid ; Miofly.';skptclied historical antecedents trom medieval ,England (loivii to the comparawvely/recent/times, when- tho sweating arid kinumlovils, which had'arisen under the mod®rn:i be- • gari_to uo modified by public sentiment acting through,labour.organisations,-legislation, and other, meiuis/Vv'The most effective agency yet adopted to give, voice to public opinion and ■ prevent sweating y and secure a livihg wage . for the/': workers .was tho New Zealand' Com-.pulsory-Arbitration Act of 1894.. '. •' .•■ THE SWEATING EVIL. Tho. current of popular feeling from which our Arbitration Act and similar Acts in Australia .really, sprung had, of-lato: years,' been gradually.,,lost-sight.of',;and'the assumption made.that-' tliis ' legislation was devised- and passed-,,, only ..for. the purpose of. preventing . strikes-by making them illegal; Tho driving force, thatr brought: tlieso Acts into law, was .'. only»partly, a desire .to settle industrial war. It was,%earliOT, r a : public opinion .shocked by tho revelations'of'sweating, not only in -Now Zealand, but in Australia. In proof of this, ; tho 'speaker quoted from tho Hon. W: P. Reeves's book, / "State. 'Experiments in; Australia and New Zealand," that'in New Zea-land-tho sweating evil had ;taken-root, and was -spreading "like " a 'disease. ;In ; D.unediri and ' clsowhoro • starvation' wages' were being paid;to r a large'nuraber of women and girls. n-omMi-wero'found jaded, dazed; and listless •in insanitary rooms,' worn out 'with .constant toil for miserable pay—ablo -to make 3s. 6d. - per .day,; it appeared- in some-cases, by stitch/H 1 ® eight invtho morning until eleven at night. This condition of things was not confined to Duriedin alone. In the year Bftor .-Ctur Act -i came, into force 591 factory girls ;iri,NQW: Zealand'were getting rio ; pay at ,«11'%.;^W"''wi>rM'^'lf5.'F\ref6•' paid •:crowii^na>other figures, might be quoted' to , add to thqdisagreeablo.story. "; Tha;t sweating prevention 'was one-:'of the*basic principles, /fflay.y bojseen . in-another'.way.; . The main scheme ,:o£;tho.- Act,. as:passed,..was to fix a : minijnum not;fco cocrco. the .worker in cny .accept.it. After an award was ■ .mado they : might 'strike/ against' the ,award ;.wage/with - Tho ,strike,::therefore,, was;;still, open to them,;but the ;lock-out was r m effect), though- not expressly, .taken from tho employer,;for-he was forbidden, under severe penalties frOiri. employing workers .at less than the. award..rato.. He might quite legally : and under conceivable condition's - the strike/.of tho- men;against. an award. rato. might. be'.ofEec(jive, toisecme,higher, r^tes..' : - WHAT, ARBITRATION/, HA£, DONE. Iho sweat- ; thoprotoe'fc'ion of the : ; strong - . law to. the.' weak, and' 'removed ' for .qygr.'fi'om 'this":country-'that unspeakable '(misejy and 'dggradatioji wliiclii;resulfiyfrom tho Uarv'aTiwnf.v,•agesyof •tli6usnii'ds , -of J, irien,- wo. - piir'VMotliorlaildi It had'not only raised the 'wages 'of the-least protwted^workers,'' but it/his-shortened t-heir houra aiid:;improved their conditions. -If tho Act disappeared : tomorrow;; the/ evils which before its _existenco/disfigured the. industrial Mfe .of;.this ! :;' c ount^ ; 'and of ; the Australian States; in 'the shape of sweated women and . . lhildy workors.: would ' again take root and -;flourfsh';as,':they did'in .England to-day. : STRIKE PREVENTION. - While ,He' .denied that : the i settlement of industrial disputes, properly so called, between .employers and - what Mr. Reeves .called ■ militant, highly organised . bodies of combatants: was,the: sole.purposo of tho Act,' I still, he; knew that/that was' the function niaiiily. discussed ..when; it -was .passed, .arid 'Ono ; it,'was..expected to.,discharge with some, measure; of success.: -It was hoped th at' where impl-oyers.: and -.workmen,, after a genuine .'at-', teimpfci. to i; settle ; an. industrial . disi)ute,/failed to agree' upon ..one or more points ,in '. issue, firstamong themselves land, next, through tho conciliation, of . ,a v ßoaril of Conciliators, the intervention and decision of a competent and impartial tribunal would, ou the final matters »f: difference; bo readily submitted .to.' : It sould not : .boy doubted , that .tho Act has. sucieoded'since.lß94," at least until a.vear ago, in maintaining: industrial.peace.: ;Ifhad : boen often: said.no country truly-prizes peace until it has widespread war,Svithin its'- borders, and we had; since'.the great .maritime strike, 18 years .ago,: really- forgotten , what. a , great strike meant. Na man-on either sido, worker or employer,' who had. ever been through and seen tho .effects .of a great, strike,: would . ughtlyVjncur ! another' ono. • ." : ■ '- ARBITRATION IN OTHER LANDS. ' Our^.Act. was no ..longer ■'an, isolated ex-, ample.:of,,compulsory State intervention to settle, industrial disputes'. Other lands. had' Byeu-.oxtejicled;. the.principle of our' legislation / by : making tho to arbitra-.tion-.-morersiiringent,. and ■by securing obedi-. tnce to the Court's awards •'by. more drastic : penalties. .Such.,' was tho 1 case. in .Canada arid New South \Vales, while tho Commonwealth; South Australia; and "Western Australia >'! all had : ,their Industrial Arbitration Acts: lie claimed that with all defects of the New Zealand Arbitration Act, if a vote was taken to-morrow .of: tho workers of New - Zealand for its retention or repeal, , the result would show an enormous majority, in favour of, the Act. Iloi was, however, prepared to . admit , that in certain quarters tho workers' for the ; Act-had declined. -• THE ACT' AS A MEANS OF FRICTION. The/Arbitration' Act had nover had tho cordial co-operation of cmployors and employees. ;At first-strenuously resisted and dis-liked-by ''.it had bad, throughout its career, the misfortune to bo used, by one' side; oi-other, ; not in'a; spirit of conciliation as a real arbitrator in a. dispute, but 'as a moaris ' father of , industrial "friction./ This • was the-maiiri; reason-why it had to some extent disappointed ' tho expectations of its frainer; . Perhaps the .expectation 'of such cooperation was more than human nature justifiedj -but .had the Act had this co-operation ho ivas. satisfied -it would have realised all its aims.- Since 1894 tho once-prized advantages •; of this legislation to tho .workers -had with many of thorn become somewhat staled by their very continuanco and familiarity. Tojawaken /a man to a boon ho-had long enjoyed, you must sometimes deprive him of it. Wipo out tho Act and-every help and protection' to labour it afforded, and 'get back to the misery of .su'cli'a struggle: as tho "'maritime strike,' and then ask Labour whothe.r-.pry not it liad,lost, a friend. REVOLUTIONARY, SOCIALISM. But,.there , was aaother class of discontents who'havo, steadily dono their best to'discredit the Acty--a class whose opposition was- not really to the, Act, but to our wholo wage system—-tho .militant or fevolutionary-So/ cialistc,.-or, Colloctivdsts, ior whatever they should bo called. They desired nothing'which would-make, our system moro satisfactorynothing/which would increaso the. harmony between cmployors" and labour, bccanso tliev feared that'might delay: their Utopia, which was to extirpate all private and indeed all industrial individual enterprise. ' Any. pruning' or'(treatment' of the

existing tree of our wago' system, which might promiso good, or oven the host, fruit, was the moro objectionable to them the better the results expected. They were content with nothing but tho tearing out of tlio trco "J* S"°-roots. It was'hopeless to devise any arbitration system ..satisfactory - to these people, for, to put it paradqxically, to them thei bottor- it was the worse'it -was. They had, of, course, qui to consistently, with; their theories, steadily dono their best to discredit Me Act and get tho workers as'a body to turn their back on it, and their iufluenco had been; he feared; much out of prdportion to tuo sniallnes3 of their numbers. UNREAL DISPUTES!

Apart , from this aspect, the Act had nol been used ' in the spirit intended by it-i fraimv When tho Act passed; its supporter assumed that all that painstaking and hones! effort to sott-lo tlm disputo. between men. anc masters, which prior to the. Act took placc beforo tho war of a strike or lock-out was declared, would continue, and that, befon invoking the Act, men and masters woulc earnestly try to como to terms. It was . assumed that men and employers would,' ir dealing with these disputes, feel tho same sense of responsibility—tho same gen-vino desire ior peace on reasonablo terms—as prevailed in ; the days of' strikes • and: lock-outs; and, that,' like any other arbitration, only such points'would be-referred to: tho Court as the parties could not genuinely agree upon aft-or an honest attempt- to do. so. They ali knew what'had'happened.' Disputes had, foi years past v in many cases, been filed without any real dispute having arisen—without any L real attomptto negotiate with the ot-hei party or come to any agreement-. The late Mr. Seddon denounced this- practice some years-ago in strong terms, but it "had still gone on. • Demands wore frequently 'made .by Unions which.they candidly .do not expect employers -to accede to. These demands were called an industrial dispute. Tho same purpose would be more shortly served by simply filing th(S demand in Court without, referring it jfirsf to the employors at all. thoreforo/-of being called ,upon to settle a real dispute—a disputo. turning as of old upon-one or two main points of real'difference—tho Court under 1 these demands had frequently to investigate and settlo a whole mass of separate details, such as, for instance, in a shearers' dispute tho other day, such petty details as tho amount and quality of- tho ingredients of the plum-pudding, to be as'part of the shearers' board. A STATE RECULATOR OF INDUSTRY. TJ>us_ the Court had been converted into something rather like a State regulator of industry—or at;least resembling a State regulator of wages. This had naturally led t-o a hundredfold more applications to tho Court than its originators - ever expected, and had provoked tho comment ttat tho Act had encouraged rather than reduced: industrial unrest. " Tho practice which, luid largely converted' tho Court into a State regulator of industry or wages had, in doing tliis, produced results of which • tho workers now complain—among theso • results' a marked .tendency to a dead level of wages for all employees, whatever their skill and energy, in the same trade. When tho Act canip into force in ,1394, tho. accepted view ;was that a dispute as to what wages should be paid conccnibd arid lay between two . parties, .and two parti as only—the niaster on the one hand and the men oil the other (frequently it was between.' tho largo employer and his workmen); and the test"was,, what wages could, and theroforo should, -the master pay his men ?, Although there was some uniformity, of wage, it would be useless ;to deny that- in the .absence of an award rate, different employers paid different rates of wages to employees in; the "samp calling, .-according to, differences of experience, skill and eriorgy'. . ■ THE QUESTION OF PROFITO. The Economic,position.of the master, prior to the Act—that is, his .earnings or profits in that particular; trade,''and in the ' tlien condition of,'that ..trade—were, the most important in. deciding whether, ho could'; pay higli^^)yagis' J fe-'hls, .n'i<ii'l?'; H Tho profits, therefore, element in'these labour disputes.. , H theso were "High it was "contended that tho/ employer should pay higherSvagtesl' But when tho''practice arose';p! : making no;-effort to arrive at- an agreement, and- 1 a ;practico developed soon after tho framing of the' Act of joining every employer-ill the same trado in-a'largo industrial'district' as r a party'to't-ho dispute— the old.' system underwent. a. radical change. For this latter'practice; made,: so to'- speak, every such employer a defendant in tho samp case, and: in time they saw 200 or '300 employers all ranged on one.sido, and all called upon to .'pay>tlie samo wages, for - tho: samo hours, etc.," although their businesses, their profits, and-their advantages wero of every sizo. . Tho position of .tho. employer or. tho prosperity ofhi3 business had—in view 'of--the fact that tile whole of them) great and small, prosperous, and unfortunate, wero swept into sno-class' as defendants —ceased to bo *a material factor before the Court. Any increase. in wages was passed oii. to tho consumer, tho people as a-whole, iiiitho, shape of increased prices. Thus an application to the Court now (wliatovor form it'takes)'is largely an' appeal to it as representing the community to decide what extra burden for wages in tho shape of increased prices tho community must bear. • .; WAGES AND THE COST OF LIVING. It is repeatedly 'said that tho increased :ost of living of recent years is due-!to'tho Act, and the increased wages it has given. This was only very partially true. Tho chief increases of .price had taken place ill meat, bread, .butter, potatoes, eggs'and:'milk.:; In theso there had been a marked rise of price in tho', last twelve years. Theso prices "would have increased if there had been no riso in. ivdges in Now Zealand at all,, for , tho simple reason that prices dependent upon the state jf the'world's market are not determined-or,-indeed, affected by our cost of production. I'ho increase in the prices to New Zealand jonsumcrs'bfthe main articles of food named had been over 18 per cent, during the last twelve years. This was' tho main cause of tho increased'-cost of the workers' living. But it was stated, especially in the main centres, that tho most burdensomo increase had been in house'rent. .' This was.Triot duo to tho Arbitration Act. In -Wellington, for example, tho increase in the unimproved value during the last 15 years of precisely the samo area of'land—tho city area of 15 years ago—had been 1 nearly 300 per cent.-Henco a piece ofland for a worker's houso in Wellington which, in 1891, cost, say, £200, would to-day cost £600, i.e., about £400 •. more, and if they calculated interest on this increase at v £5 per cent .they would get £20 a year, or about Bs. per week in tho shape of extra rent, which the worker had to pay, for this increase 'of -improved value. This would have taken'placo if there had been'no Arbitration Act in existence'. It might bo said that building- material had increased in price, but tlirit was certainly not Wholly due to' the Arbitration Court increasing wages. Timber becamo dearer'as the forests grow less accessible or exhausted, - and ■ many other reasons besides the iiicreaso in wages might bo ascribed for the increased cost of building.- If they examined the awards and their effect upon the price of building material and tho cost of building, they would see that tho increase in rent duo to the' Arbitration Court was quito insignificant as compared with the increase due to growing unimproved values, .and other causes wholly independent of the Act, STATISTICAL EVIDENCE. While the .Court bad increased wages all round 18 per cent, in twelvo vcans,' this increase had been'a real increase, and;had not destroyed -itself by in'any material way increasing the cost of the worker's living. He had obtained from the Registrar-General a report which showed that wages and prices for necessary foods had advanced at about tho same rate in twelvo years. This would justify his denial of tho complaint that the Act i 3 self-destructive of its benefits by causing au increase in tho co3t of living corresponding to the wago increases it secured tho workers. LAST YEAR'S BILL. The cardinal feature of - the Amendment Bill of , last year'was tho abolition of tho Conciliation Boards arid the substitution of Industrial Councils consisting, of practical men drawn from tho trade in which tho dispute arose, to represent employers and workmen. This method would save delays, givo finality to most of the Industrial Council's awards, and secure a better chance of compromise through men actually in the trade and familiar with tho details hcarinij and settling the disputo. TJio State had a right j

.0 intervene to keep industrial ..pcacc, just is it had to keep civil pence and preserve social order. This could only be done so ai as human -ingenuity had yet gone bv jompulsory arbitration. From this point of .ion- it did not matter whether employers >r workers wero content with the Act' or iesired to get back to tho old method of oek-out and strike. There was a higherntercst, than tho interest of cither side —the intanioimt interest of the people as a whole, md if 111 their interest compulsory arhitrajiou was desirable, it would be retained. IMPRISONMENT FOR STRIKING, Ho did not believe in imprisonment for striking. History proved that,.imprisonment ii'incli carried with it 110 disgrace did not lotor; and it would bo idle to assort that mprisonment for striking in New Zealand ivould involve any disgrace. Nav, more, to )ut m gaol_ a large number of men because jiicy had lert work in concert for some grievmco, real or imaginary would' earn symlaJiy for them rather than. discredit. The lability to penalties of imprisonment under Jio Canadian Act had not prevented strikes, hey had not prevented them in New South wales, where tlio law was most stringent; ior would they prevent them in'tho present iolidition of public sentiment and opinion n any English-speaking country. They certainly had not in New Zealand. What purJose could be served by keeping a useless Jiunderbolt on our Statute Book ? Henco the Prime Minister had declared against imprisonment for strikes. But, whilo this was >0, and . while tho Act remained upon the statute Book, the men should bo under the )bligation to pay tho fines imposed upon .hem by the Court. lib (the speaker) would ruprison neither employers nor employees 'or failuro to pay fines for ,lock-out or strike: )ut, short of -imprisonment, lie' would, exact :'rom both by every reasonable civil process 'hat existed, or could be devised, tile full payment of the fine ordered, by the Court. PROVISION F.OFJ PAYMENT OF FINES. Ihis. country would not permit—no country ivould permit—any class, however large, to' :njoy all the advantages of legislation, to jnforco against another class all the penal;ies of that legislation, and then themselves ;o violate:that very legislation—and not only ziolato it, but do so with an ostentatious Jonsion and contempt. This was not even 7xl i ;Ik was ft deliberato broach )f the lair, and law and order must' be enforced or our social system must dissolve'. Lroperly understood, the nrovision for the payment of fines for striking in the amending Bill of last year is adeauate and effective. Lot that provision be passed, and he ivas. satisfied that, without any limelight, russ. or hero-making, future fines for striking ivould bo paid. If workmen defied the law by striking, if they rejected an important, tribunal standing ready ,to intervene and secure to them the fullest measuro of justice, they would arouso a new public opinion' md sentiment. Volunteers to fill their places ivould soon bo no longer called blacklegs,'but social benefactors. Preo labour would be readily available to fill the strikers' place's, and tne weapon of the strike would lose its sificac}'. ,• ' CONCLUSION. He would in closing ■ urgo tho workers'of New Zealand to make tho best they could of their/wage system, legislate, to improve it, and secure,' if ■.necessary, a fairer, division between the two great, partners to produ.c-tion--tho employer and tho workman.. To dream of tearing up ; by the roots the wholo' growth of private \industrialism, was but wasting time and convicting oneself of'stupidity.-. In the 'long ruii tho general averago'of wages was determined by the productiveness .of labour.'. ■ If ' tho - two partners to employer and workmanr-' under fair -and rightful conditions, cordially co-operated, .they would' secure tho best re-' feults. that nature would -permit, but if either : or both partners begot a spirit of irrational antagonism to the other, the loss to both was incalculable. If labour determined .not ' to do its reasonable best for production, but i on tho contrary to do- as little as possible ; for a wage it recei wxl,, it. was not only .help- < ing to impoVbrish.:..the .whole, country, but . was mainly helping to prevent that, increase ( of wealth'out of which by means'of proper i legislation a fairer .and a better share might' i bo secured to the workers themselves.. ' - j ;_ At tho conclusion of; his spcech an entliu- J siastic vote ; of. thanks was passed to tho ( speaker.. 1 •" - ,