LABOUR AND THE ARBITRATION COURT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 32, 1 November 1929, Page 10

LABOUR AND THE ARBITRATION COURT

Whenever it has been suggested, that the ‘Arbitration Court should either be abolished or modified, organised Labour has voiced strong opposition. This attitude was plainly in evidence at the National Industrial Conference.

Recently, however, some of the unions have been passing resolutions condemning the decisions of the Court. According to one authority this is part of a concerted move .by organised Labour to damage the Court’s prestige. However that may be, this change of attitude is worth noting. ■ For many years past the Arbitration Court has been in a position to dispense concessions to the workers. Now that it is unable to do so, those whom it formerly benefited are biting the hand that fed them. It is essential to the success of arbitration that those who invoke its decisions should be prepared to accept them. The function of the Court is to protect not only the interests of the workers, but also those of the employers; not only industry, but also the community in general. That its decisions should in all cases satisfy everybody would be asking too much of human nature. The most that ought to be expected of it is that the average of its results should represent a fair measure of justice all round. That on occasions this does not appear, is due to the fact, emphasised over and over again, that it imposes artificial restrictions upon industry, restricts the free play of economic forces, and fixes wages upon a basis which has no connection with production, with work done. A great many employers, and not a few workers, are now convinced that industry would be much better off if a general system of round-the-table conciliation could be substituted for the vexing litigation of the Arbitration Court. Organised Labour, however, insists on the retention of the Court. That being so, it should be prepared to accept its decisions in the right spirit, and. also the possibility that with changing economic conditions these decisions may not appear so favourable in the future as they have in the past.