UNION DICTATION

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 27, 27 October 1926, Page 11

UNION DICTATION

EFFECTS ON INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA JOB CONTROL AND RESTRICTION OF OUTPUT GROWING ANTAGONISM TOWARDS EMPLOYERS At the annua) conference of the Central Council of the Employers’ Federation of Australia a speaker condemned the system of trades union dictation and emphasised the serious effects of it on industry. By Telegraph.— Press association Copyright. Melbourne, October 26. Addressing the annual conference of the Central Council of the Employers’ Federation, the president of the New South Wales Federation condemned the present system of trades union dicta-' lion. He said that job control, restriction of output, reduction of working hours, overlapping of awards, workers’ compensation provisions, and the utter absence of any concern on the part of officials of trades unionism to ensure a fair return for the wages paid, were some of the handicaps with which manufacturers had to contend, and from which theie appeared to be little immediate prospect of relief. A growing feeling of antagonism on the part of trades unions' towards employers, the natural result of constant recourse to legalised tribunals, rendered the position of the employer intolerable ajid impracticable, and raised the question whether compulsory arbitration had not proved a failure. Assumedly, however, the system had come to stay. He declared that wages in Australia, generally speaking, were 100 per cent, higher than in similar industries in the United Kingdom. The loss of four hours weeklv on full pay m this country was therefore the equivalent to eight hours’ extra competitive work weeklv per worker in Britain He urged the need of closer co-operation among employers’ organisations. . WAGES AND COST OF LIVING Melbourne. October 26. Consequent on the change in the cost of living, wages from November 1 will be reduced by 4s. a week in Adelaide; 3s. in Melbourne; 2s. 6d. in Perth ; Is. in Launceston and Sydney; and fid. in Hobart. In Brisbane they will be increased by Gd.