THE RULE OF FORCE IN NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 233, 30 June 1939, Page 8

THE RULE OF FORCE IN NEW ZEALAND

It is announced by the Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb, that the Government is about to introduce legislation to deal with industrial unions who resort to strikes in contravention of the law. l here is nothing new in the Minister’s assertion that the unions are not entitled to claim the benefits of the conciliation and arbitration system and at the same time reserve to themselves the right of resort to direct action. This issue has been thrashed out over and over again in the past. Unions dissatisfied with awards of the Court of Arbitration have either cancelled their registrations and resorted to direct action, or, as in recent cases, held up industry without even this formality.

The real issue is whether strikes which hold up industry, and for which the whole community must pay in the long run, can be eliminated altogether. This is not an attack on Labour unionism, nor does it restrict their legitimate activities. It is a choice between force and the rule of law. That is the present issue in international politics. Is it not rather illogical for us, as a democracy, to condemn the use of force by totalitarian States in which strikes are rigorously banned when we submit tamely to the use of force by militant unions in contumaceous disregard of the rule of law in our own industries? We rail against the violation of treaties and yet we allow our own unions to tear up their agreements.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that the legislation announced by Mr. Webb will be something more than a face-saving enactment; that it will arm the Government with powers to deal effectively with the stoppages which are imposing such costly inconvenience and delays on our industries; and that the Government will have the will and the strength of purpose to use those powers. The introduction of this legislation provides an opportunity for asserting and emphasizing the sanctity of contracts, and mobilizing opinion in Parliament and outside against the rule of force in industry.