MR. RIGG ON ARBITRATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 239, 2 July 1908, Page 9

MR. RIGG ON ARBITRATION.

HOW TO ENFORCE AWARDS. VITAL AMENDMENTS NEEDED,' ' . Tho Hon. J. RIGG (Wellington) said ho Would devoto his . speech in seconding tho address solely to the question of the.presont position of tho Industrial Arbitration Act. Parliament was faced last session by tho Slaughtermen's strike,' and others / had -happened since. Tho Dcnniston Miners'v strike, Blackball strike, Auckland Tjramway striko, and the existing strike of. the Wellington Bakers, in addition to t)vo smaller, strikes, .that occurred during the recess, had .produced ' a . serious position, and the very, oxistenco of the Arbitration Act was im- ■ perilled. ;. Its: disappearancoi : would bo a grave calamity, and .ho regretted■ that its repeal was ; now boing soriously discussed. It was oho of the grandest efforts ever mado to adjust industrial relations. Were it.not maintained, we might shortly seethe greatest industrial upheaval that New Zealand had ever 'experienced. - He thought it could be maintained. ' . Futility of Coercion. , A great mistake' was made against his protest at tho time, when the', whole'purpose of the; Act was changed from, the . settlement of disputes to the prevention of strikes. Experience had proved that the attempt to' provent strikes by coercion was futile. The ■change was virtually an attempt to bolster up tho Act, after it had-, been weakened, by the. manner in which, it was administered by tlio Arbitration Court. /An improvomoiit of the administration should havo been effected 1 instead, but his ndvo.: . such. a; change was 'misunderstood as'an at-' tack on the ;. presiding judgo. Tho widespread'want of' confidence in the Court was' Itho chief reason why Ayorkors .went on striko, instead-, of "appealing 1 ;.t0.'/.'tho"' Court. ' The most important matter to bo considered iiow was how to .'restore their 'confidence in that tribunal. ;•;/'

Despair of the Workers. A mistake was. made ■ when tho Judge's tenure of office was made a life tenure. Tho old-three years' term gave the workers hopo of a change for the better, when they were dissatisfied. He had nevervheard-a charge of unfair administration made by. any worker against the. Court. Their attitudo in the present revolt was rathor one of despair than dissatisfaction. Another mistake was to take practising lawyers,.'.and make them; Presidents of, the Court, in which position, they would ,'have before them persons with whom they had just'previously had' close : profesrelations. An experienced Supreme Court Judge, such'as .it was at-first'under-stood would always bo selected for this most difficult position, would not labour under tho samo disadvantage. "He thought, - however, that the legal mind was far, from a nccessary equipment of an Arbitration Court President-. A capable unci siiitablj' experienced layman should mabo a better President, though, as long as tho J. J residcnt. was an experienced Supremo Court Judgo, thero was no dissatisfaction with' tho decisions of tho Court. Elective Presidents of : tho Court Ho suggested that th 6 President 'of the Court should J)e appointed, like tho Chairmen of Conciliation Boards, by the employers and. W'orkers,- or failing agreement of those parties, by the Governmont. This would at least give hope to workers and employers. It would be difficult', to terminate a life appointment. , '•The Hon. W.' Beehan i (Auckland): Why? Tfiero are not enough judges. . ' Tho Hon., Mr. Bigg agreed that the judge might accept promotion, but tho position would be a delicate one. -.- \ History of the, Coercion Clause. ' - Dealing with the "strike clause," Section 15 of the amending Act of 1905, Mr. Hig R said it was passed at tho close of the session. -Tho clause ; was unexpectedly introduced in Committee of the House of Representatives and passed without debate. The Hon, E; J. Seddrin stated that his attention had been drawn to the possibility of a strike and. the clause'- was .introduced •to meet it! Tho fact was that at a meeting of carpenters in Wellington discontent was expressed and thero was some wild talk of a striko' but no striko was really intended.' The clauso was so hurriedly put in that it was not oven printed in the first copies of tho Bill that came beforo the Labour Bills Committeo of the Council. Members were completely taken by surprise, and thero was no timo for proper consideration of such an important matter; His Labour friends and himself tried to get tho' clauso struck out by tho Council, but beginning by attempting to amend it, they moved to delete the provision against aiding and abetting. ■They failed in this. The next step was a, motion by himself to confino the operation of the clause to awards tho' fixed , term of which had not expired. A worker might bo said to havo dono his duty-, by tho award when had obeyed it for tho fixed term.

lhis motion also was .'defeated, and the clause ■was.finally adopted by 13 votes to 7.' TKo Legislative Council was tho only placo wlicro •the clause was seriously debated, and had lio and his colleagues had a more opportunity of explaining their views',' ho behoved the clause would not have beoomolaw. Punishment for Striking. Imprisonment for striking or for non-pay-ment of a fine imposed for striking was approved by nobody in the Dominion. 0 It was impossible to enforco it, bccauso it would depnvo tlio employers, of the very labour thoy could not do,without. Ho agreed also that no employer should ho imprisoned for locking out his men. Fines as a punishment for striking were equally futilo. Apart from tlio difficulty of collecting tliem, the strikers, if strong enough, could mako it a condition of tho settlement tluit the employer should pay tlio fine. Many critics of the Government woro not inspired wholly by tho- desire for industrial peace. Tho question was a political as well as an industrial ouo. It was recognised by tho critics that any attempt to enforce tho law 'as it stood must lose votes. Ho suggested that Section 15 should bo repealed, that striken should ho mado a breach of award, and that security should ho given by tho parties when tho award was mado. Only tho parties i actually striking would then bo punished.

He thought tho time had como when tho Hon. Mr. Millar's proposal to abolish them and substitute Industrial Councils consisting of experts in the trade aftcctcd should bo adopted. Tho best results wero often obtained by getting _ tho parties together to confer,,before an impartial tribunal. Tho strongest opposition that had been mado to this propoMl had come from tho workers, • and was-based on tho fear of victimisation, out this was_ unreasonable because tho mastors could, if they wished, victimise a man whatever tribunal did or did not. exist.. Tho men's representative might bo a paid'officer of tho union. • inequality of Awards, .Tho inequality of somo awards, as between different parts of ono industrial district, caused somo dissatisfaction, but ho thought such factors as tho high rents in Wellington' justified such an inequality. Tho establishment of tho Industrial Councils would lesson tho powers of the Court. Jt might remain as a Court of Appeal, and tho change should not bo. allowed to stand- in tlio way of reform.

Taken Advantage Of. Tho provision that an award should run until superseded by. a new ono had been taken advantago of by tho Court- to prevent miners getting the "bank-to-bank" clause. Such a courso was never contemplated. Ho suggested that tho continuance provision should bo repealed, so that a union could bo released from an award without forfeiting its existence as a union. ' Mr Rigg concluded by urging the desirability of maintaining tho Act. To repeal it would lead to undercutting among employers and reduction of wages. He did not see how anyone could contemplate such a clianco with equanimity. > ■ • . The Demand for Repeal. 2ho ,demand for, repeal came partly from unionists, who ; thought arbitration had weakoned tho fighting spirit of unionism, and that its -abolition would help to lead to tho formation of. an aggressivo Labour party in Parliament Ho hoped and believed that there would bo a strong Labour party in tho Legislature, but ho desired that iit would com'o not through strife and turmoil, but through industrial peace. Industrial arbitration in some form was a necessity in all civilised countries, and li'o hoped that tho iNew Zealand Arbitration Act, which had dono so much good, and held such potentialitics of future benefit would bo amended, and retained on the Statuto Book. (Applause) ■Tho debate .was adjourned, and the Council rose at 4.50 p.m.