TRANSITION PERIOD IN INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 301, 16 September 1936, Page 10

TRANSITION PERIOD IN INDUSTRY

Only a. Few Minor Disputes

CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS OF SETTLEMENT

"The industrial legislation of the present Government has effected radical changes in the relationship between workers and employers, and misunderstandings regarding interpretations were bound to occur during the period of transition,” said the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, when replying in the House of Representatives yesterday to an urgent question by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Opposition, Waitomo).; ~

Information had been sought by Mr. Broadfoot as to the steps the Prime Minister proposed to take to eliminate stop-work meetings which were occurring while disputes were the subject of negotiations between employers and employees. He asked Mr. Savage whether he would see that constitutional means for settling disputes were utilised in the future.

Mr. Savage said that considering the multiplicity of occupations and Industries affected by the new industrial legislation, the Government took satisfaction in the fact that the new era had been entered upon with only a few minor disputes, and with no serious dislocation of industry. “The amendments made to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. and to the Factories Act,” said Mr. Savage, “have provided machinery for more rapid settlement of disputes by constitutional means than previously existed. The Government is watching the position closely, and, if after making, due allowance for the exceptional circumstances which prevail during the present period of readjustment it appears that still further legislation is necessary to encourage settlements by constitutional means, consideration will be given to the steps necessary to achieve these.” An Opposition member: Hear, hear.