CAPITAL & LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 17, 14 October 1927, Page 13

CAPITAL & LABOUR

BETTER UNDERSTANDING DESIRED REMEDIES FOR DEPRESSION • RETENTION OF COURT OF ARBITRATION Although trade unions may Use their undoubted great power for offensive, rather than defensive purposes, the proper remedy for this evil is the curtailment of their special legislative privileges, as carried recently in Great Britain. The abolition of the Arbitration Court is not the appropriate remedy. It ’.ertainly will not remove the present depression. You might as well treat a case of cancer in the stomach as one of simple indigestion.

The above opinion was expressed bv the Hon. T. S. Weston, M.L.C., president of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation, at the annual meeting of the federation yesterday. “One of the hotly advocated remedies for the present depression is the abolition, of the Arbitration Court and of preference to unionists,’’ he said. “The abolition of the Court would not, however, abolish collective bargaining by trade unions. The trade union system has become so much a British institution that the abolition of the Court would not mean its extinction. The proposal to abolish the Arbitration Court is really a protest against the abuse by trade unions of their great powers. The views of this federation on this question were expressed in our annual report published on October 27, 1920. I make no apology for republishing them:— “ ‘This question has come into some prominence in the public Press, of late. Trade unions were at ona time illegal as being a breach of the law against conspiracy. They were legalised in order that workers might combine to protect their members from oppressive action by employers, and to improve their wages and working conditions. In this they have done excellent work. To-day, however, there is a strong tendency for trade unions to go much further. They are fast becoming political organisations. The more militant ones also are using the great power which combined labour in a key industry, such as coal mining, must inevitably possess, to enforce the granting of unreasonable demands at the expense of the whole consuming community,' and to the detriment of workers in other less important branches of industry. Finally, a small section of the community, but a dangerous section, are endeavouring, through trade unionism, to start; a' revolution on the lines 'of the Russians. If trade unions use the privilege expressly conferred upon them for the protection of workers, as a means of oppression against all other sections of the community for the propagation, of pernicious doctrines, and for political purposes, it will become a question to be seriously considered whether .their present power must not be restricted. Undoubtedly preference to unionists builds up the .union’s funds. If, however, these funds are to he used to the serious detriment of the country as a whole; should this preference continue to be specially conferred by statute?’ ”

"Your Advisory Board, for reasons r«j eently published after consultation with the executive of tho various individual employers’ associations, is opposed to it.

The English Example.

"Undoubtedly, however, tho Arbitration Act might be improved in some minor respects. Personally, however, I would not like to alter the present constitution of the _ Court. If you are to have co-ordination between awards you must have permanent assessors. Assessors apoointed for each particular dispute would prove far too expensive and unwieldy and would lack the knowledge of other awards necessary to enable them to co-ordinate these with their own. To replace the present Court with a tribunal of three Judges sitting together would also be a mistake. It would be difficult to get legal men with the necessary economic and business knowledge, ahi legal men dealing with industrial award" year in and vear out would tend to become too stereotyped. Anyhow Australia is now experimenting in that particular direction —why not await their result? After all, the present agitation against the Act is due mainly to one award. The effect of that award uron the graziers’ costs of production has been so crossly exaggerated that it shows how hysterical in face of difficulty thirty-five years of good times has left us. Dairy Farmers’ Example. "So long as Labour itself will co-op-erate with management in increasing production and improving methods of work I favour no reduction in money wages except as a last resource. If. however. Labour or its leaders will not co-operate with a fair management prepared not to reduce money wages then such a reduction may be brought about by the force of circumstances. Businesses are carried on to make, profits. If operations simply mean continued losses, businesses miirt cease to operate and to provide work for their employees. The British, however, have too much common-sense not to take the sound, view pointed out by experience. Everything noints in England to a rapprochement between labour and management. Given this radprochement and a determination on the part of every one to work harder, to save more and to improve methods wherever possible, we need have no fear for the future. The war taught us how effective the combined effort of a whole nation imbued with one spirit can be. If we follow the example of tho dairy farmer, if we work hard and intellisrentlv as he has done the last year, the New Zealand of 1928 should be a much more prosperous Now Zealand than that of 1927. What The Federation Should Do. "While on this point,” concluded Mr. Weston, "may I point out that our federation has many members and their combined influence is great? Through our local executives and your Advisory Board, we can pool our knowledge and experience and decide upon the best course to be pursued in the present troublous times. When that course has been decided upon, it should bo to the Interests of the federation and of the Dominion if all our members loyally advocated it to others and put it into effect as far as possible in affairs they themselves control. It is in this way that our federation can make itself felt. It. is always better to learn from the mistakes of others rather than from our own. Just now the Australian Commonwealth and most of the States comprising it are showing us by their actual experience what to avoid. MR. JESSEP’S VIEW ABOLITION OF COURT OPPOSITION PREDICTED By Tblegbaph.—pkeso association Wairoa, October 13. Speaking at a meeting of sheep farmers,. Mr. J. S. Jessen, referring to the criticism of his remarks on the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, said it was amazing to note the varied ®aticißms and different ooastrnctioiiz

placed upon his remarks in different quarters. , ~, In some it had been assumed that the repeal of the Act would necessarily mean chaos. He did not think anything of the kind would occur. The. existing awards must pin their course, and at the termination of such awards fresh agreements would be made.. Some critics had credited him with being opposed to unionism and collective bargaining. Collective bargaining was bevond question necessary. During the last few years many prominent Labour leaders had most emphatically expressed themselves as opposed to the Act. He did not think the repeal of the- Act would mean a reduction of vrageji throughout the Dominion. On the contrary, he believed many. skilled . men would earn more. The increase in efficiency would lead to lower costs, and the actual wages received would be greater. „ . , Extreme Efficiency Needed. The restrictions of the Act had so increased the cost of handling goods on the coasts that it cost more to take a 6000-ton cargo of fertiliser from the vicinity of Auckland to • Invercargill than it did to bring a similar cargo from Belgium to Invercargill. Paymen,, by time and not results means the offering of a bonus to inefficiency, and the Act would have broken down long ago had it not been that New Zealand had been favoured with steadily-rising values for its produce. e These values could not go on increasing for ever; in fact, the general tendency was for the value of raw materials steadily to decline. New Zealand had to compete in the markets of the world with countries working under vastly differnet conditions, and it was only by extreme efficiency that it could maintain its standard of living.

All Workers Affected by Awards. Some critics had stated that certain of tha larger unions were working under agreements, arrived at between the unions and the employers, and not working under awards of the Arbitration Court. This was simply begging the question, as tho standard method of payment and the restrictions which applied throughout New Zealand were the direct result of a definite award under the Act in other allied industries. There were thousands of competent skilled men in New Zealand who would welcome the repeal of the Act and the opportunity of being paid according to their work, and not subjected to the levelling process which artificially fixed the standards of payment. . The repetition of puerile political platitudes would not solve this problem. "I recognise fully that the repeal of the Act will not prove a panacea for all ills, but the Act is certainly a factor, and a very substantial factor, /.in retarding the progress of the Dominion. Further, it’ is the one and only factor with which we in New Zealand can deal. I am well aware that many employers in the cities will oppose tho repeal of the Act, because an award of the Court which fixes the minimum at what under normal conditions is practically the maixmum rate of wages places them all on an equality and stifles competition. The very fact that the Act is so viewed is itself sufficient evidence that the Act should be repealed. Competition usually leads to efficiency. An award of the Court places industry, from Auckland to the Bluff, under ironbound control. There is no elasticity and no possibility of variation to meet, changing conditions. The result is unquestionably unemployment. New Zealand cannot longer continue to work under restrictions which are destroying efficiency. It is not enough that our production should be maintained at the present standard.. If. wo are to carry the load that this little country shouldered in connection with the war; if we are to carry the enormously increased cost of government, education, and hospital maintenance, and still maintain the present standard of livinv. then- it is essential with tho world’s falling values for primary products, for production. to bo increased. Tho artificial restrictions imposed by the Act very ' materially hamper such increase. Tho effect has not yet been fully felt. System Blamed for Depression. "The increasing amount of unemployment throughout the Dominion during tho past year cannot all bo attributed to the depression caused by the fall in the value of primary products. Wo have, by artificial restrictions, so increased the cost of labour that the country cannot buy it, and this increased cost of labour has conferred.no benefit upon the worker. Were it not for the large number of men employed on public works at present, we would before this have reached a crisis. "It is useless to attempt to dodge fundamental economic facts. Wo cannot spend more in producing an article in New Zealand than that article will fetch in the world’s markets. The whole prosperity of Now Zealand depends upon its exports, and if the quantity of our exports is not maintained we are in the position of a man with a very fine irrigation systeip. perfect in every detail theoretically, but with no water coming down the main race/’