ARBITRATION ACT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 241, 4 July 1908, Page 13

ARBITRATION ACT.

MANIFESTO FROM TRADES AND LABOUR COUNCIL. REPLY TO'DR. FINDLAY. • ' .Tho Parliamentary Committee of the Wel-lington-Trades and Labour Council on Thursdajr niglit presented .its report to tho Council . embodying a reply to recent speeches by tho Attorney-General (the Hon. Dr. Findlay) in connection with the oporation of tho Arbitration ' Act. The report, which took tho form of. a manifosto to Labour gonorally, was unanimously adopted. In condensed form it was as follows :— . .Having -oppressed the opinion " that Dr. Findlay has. established himself as tho special picador of tho Cabinet, and that his speech is . deliberately preparod'as a plea for tho continuation :of-tho present wage and com- ■ petitive system qE industry,"/the committee, states its,belief that the Arbitration Act "is still only an expedient," . and though, if amended, it might 'provo of greater benefit to workers, " as a final means of securing to the - workers a fair share of the products .of their'labour it is' absolutely: of no avail." Such an end "can only bo accomplished s - alosg the linos of tho, graduaj socialisation of. all industries," to which end direct representation of the workers in Parliament must bo ■ secured, /• '. Then follows a criticism' of tho part? into which Dr. Findlay divided . his most recent speech, andean essay on'tho law of competition as affecting the, workers, the conclu§ion ! arrived at' being that tho • workers, having moved from status to con- - tract,' and'yico yersa, have always only,occupied ioneposition—that of dependence. Tho committee r do not agreo that tho Arbitration Act .has caused HIGHER WAGES. ', ' , ■ The report says:—" If we admit all that is said' regarding tho sweating ■■ conditions existing in the Dominion m 1890, it is still nothing moro -than- pure .assumption to take it that the^Arbitration Act has been the cause of; the: h'igher wages now paid. :Wo • know sufßcienijVof other lands to-understand that wages and other conditions: of labour may alter, considerably independent of any legis;;lativr,attempts at ■ the . regulation of such ' ;, With the large, expenditure of borrowed money, the high price for our staple ' rtommodities in'the Home, market,-the ■ ing / out' of large public" works policies, the • withdrawal 'of thousands of ■' labourers from ;the oppn market by'employing them-on State

co-operative 'works, the continuous' opening up and' settlement of land, all tending to freo' supply ' to the demand; 'it wbulfjlhavb been most strange indeed if the sweating con'ilnpn3, of New Zealand's of sqnatocr«cyand ' stagnation ; had continued ■ with us even if no Arbitration -Act ever had been;-'passedl 'r The Hon.' W. I'.Resvos's ' tesiimony notwithstanding, wo are, confident that Iwhitprcr; advantages have . been; reaped • ■ by the unorganiied workers,; women and V otliors;: haTa ' been gained from the causes enumerated, and others, rather than bv the 1 oflect ■ of(tno Act alone, which has, alwavs boon 'administered with \duo regard to'the, interests of the eaaployirig class. v Thoreforo, the obhtention '- iii the speech that\ the 'Act alone is' responsible, for tho.abolitibn of sweating in'the Dominion, and the iiiforerico suggested' that with tho repeal of the Act the Bweating system would again obtain, is not, in our opinion, a sound one." , STRIKES. In . referring to ■ strikes," the report goes on,. "Dr. Findlay says that: in the course of thirteen;years;only, eighteen strikes have oocurred in. New'; Zealand, twelve of which .were,, illegal, l and on this point asks us to follow the career of the Act and Court :.sin6e-'their inception. -In .dealing with this ; aspect, of : the question we venture ..to say that' ah investigation- will prove that, if. not the.'whole, some ninety-eight ' per cent.- of r those strikes, have j place since 1903, dqring_ wiich an', amendment, (xi,' tho Act . vmade .it .illegal, for..'the"'worker- to ;take pro- ■" ccedings ,witn the intention to defeat any of ■ tho' provisions of ■ an Award; and by a further>amendmcnt of 1905 made it illegal for 'any" Union 'or worker! to create 1 a' strike, • or aid or abet one, during tho currency of an Award or Agreement.. Under the original ■ Act of 189-1, and up to the'passing of the .'amendments quoted, it was competent for • the workers, through their Unions, to reject an Award and dcclare 'a strike in order to. secure justice;"this right to strike 'had an ; important and material affect on the Court .. in the granting of "Awards, seeing ihat .it wascognisant"'of th»' fact that- if its Award • was: not -based on.:equitable'grounds tho. workers, could place it on one sido arid resort to other mejisnres; The amendments ,however, have : deprived the workers of that right, and have, given the Court exclusive power to place '.onl one side; aIT evidence, and. other.matters, ad-, ; ■duced'in the; hearing of a dispute, and to base its Awards, not on grounds'of, equity, but'in accordance with its own inclinations: consequently the Court,'since 1903, and especially, since 1905, knowing the. unfortunate legal chains'binding tho Unions to. conform to its Awards, whether they bo good, bad, or ; indifferent,'h_as been doing little or nothing else but serving out reverses to the workers - hence,the number of strikes since 1903." We agree with tho spsaker in deprecating strikes. ' ECONOMIC "WAGES. . . .." ■We submit, that it was only .after the amending provisions of the Aot making strikes illegal v that any-such upheaval occurred.-.: 'We believe that the: Act. as.iit was originally framed and which, allowed Unions' freedom of action before and after disputes had been, dealt with br the Board or Court should have remained • unaltered. In our opinion,, .tie maladministration of -Act, : and ; 'section 15 of . it, which compelled workers ... to accept oonditions repugnant to' them, has , been the cause of tho industrial unrest during the past two yeaTS. No body of workers ■ should bo forced to accept conditions antago•.'.nistio. toV their feelings.' ■ * '. ■ Y The ■' contention- - of Dr. Findlay that the .Act has not appreciably-increased the .work-. Vers' cost of living is ono- which will con- • oern-'thom very little,'whilst tho fact; that the cost has largely increased' condoms them very- much. 1 Taking • tho • figures. given that wages have increased 17.9 per cent., whilst < the cost of living has' increased 20 per cent.: It seems 'quite beside -the question to argue ~ that.-tbo increased cost of living lias not ■ been due to . the operations of tho Act. To, the worker tine vital fact is that his real wages, or pnrchaaine powor, has'been roduoed, and the- Act has not prevented that .result from 'taking place. We are also afraid that the hori. gentleman's figures do not allow ' sufficient for the two items cf rent and clothing. , The. increased cost of rent ' to the workers in'. Wellington must come nearer 30 than 8. per cent. i Y;;,.'':' ':'" STATISTICS. ' / ... \ The. Committee includes in its ■ report'' ! : tables, purporting to show, that tho increased wages under the Act havo not been com-mensurate-with, the increased prosperity. of the. Dominion. These show the avorago of increase for tho years' 1894-1906 under awards , for, all trades '.—Auckland, 31.1; .Wellington, 13.'8; Canterbury,. 21.9; Otago, 12.8; average; increase for the . Dominion, 19.7. . Not under awards: Auckland, 35.2; Wellington, 25.5; .Canterbury, 18.2; Otago, 43.4; average increase for the Dominion, 29.3. "We are. told,'Vadds the report, "that it is, impossible for . the , wage-earner to- receive a , graater r portion of the total of production for, ' tho reason that .the National . dividend is, not great enough,, and that.any such, increase must nonf'isarily bo taken from that , portion of production which • should bo dis- ;. tributed; amongst the employers in tho form .. of-profits.. ■ .Assuming that wages are-deter-mined by-tho amount of profits which go to the employers, with every increaso of profits wagea should riso,' and with a decrease wages should .correspondingly decline. Such a statement is utterly misleading and .cal- • culated to convey an impression that wages . are based on profits! It is the power of 'Rent that determines both. wages and in-. - torest, and if land values increase in greater ratio than productive power, rent will swallow up more than the increase. In reviewing the system of • distribution of the wholo -of production, we find that wages are that portion, of the total produce of labour which the. labourer can, by competition,'custom, or otherwise, obtain for himself after the landlord, the capitalist, tho employer, and tho Government have squeezed as much as they can

for themselves in tho form of rent, interests, profits, and taxes. Tho result, aftor all theso deductions, is that that portion which tho workor receives as wages is very diminutivo. . ... Wo say that the distribution of rent in its present form should bo entirely ■ eliminated. Perhaps somo knowlodgo of tho magnitude of this one item may bo interesting, and wo givo tho figuros which bliow tho inoreaso of unimproved vaiuo of lands. In the year 1897 tlio unimproved value was £94,847,727, and.in 1906 the values had reached tho enormous.sum of £149,652,689, showing an inoreaso in nino years of £54,834,962, and which is constantly increasing with .overy increase of population, and with tho increased productivity of ; the worker. Rent, in tho economic sense of tho term, 'is a product whioh no man earns. It is a valuo that does not even rise until a community is formed, and, ; unlifco other valuos, it grows with tho growth of ; the oommunity'. And yet, with this enormous sum being calmly appropriated .by the land-holding classes who have not a shred of justification for receiving tho samo, wo are told that ' the national dividend is not great enough to warrant an increase of wages to tho wage-earner. We advise the workers of this country not to be deluded by any superficial arguments of this kind, but to direct their energies towards tho realisation of tho. truo remedy which can only bo achieved by'tho nationalisation'of the land." . EXERTION WAGE. . The Committee warn tho workers against the.adoption of this suggestion as the averago exertion, wage output would becomo the minimum output demanded before tho week's wage: would bo paid, and the wage-earning class would have. ultimately to put twenty years'-'work:into a lifo of ten years. _ The Act'," they say, 'is .wanted, 1 but as it . was originally conceived by' thoframor, and , they ask for.amendment in the direction of finality onsured to the decisions of the Conciliation Board. Above all, apart from the Act, no matter how amended, they .urge upon the workers., ; ; ; DIRECT POLITICAL * ACTION. ■ , "Return your, own representatives," concludes the report, ' 'demand direct. from Parliament your own amelioration. Dr. Findlay's speech is a plea for tho continuation of the present competitive wago system. Wo advise the total abolition of that system. The present political parties stand pledged to its continunnco.. Its abolition will only bo brought about _by a political party pledged to-fight; against it. .We are striving to abolish'it, and to.bring about a co-opera-tivo Commonwealth. Wo ask for the active support of delegates and all workers towards tho consummation of that idoa."