ARBITRATION OF THEM FUTURE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3127, 24 July 1922, Page 7

ARBITRATION OF THEM FUTURE.

It is generally considered that the true test of the utility of the Arbitration Court is about to be applied. Since the formation of the Court under Mr Seddon both wages and conditions of labor have l improved. There are some who contend that they were both bound to improve in any case, while others think that the improvement in the standard of liv ing that was experienced by workers up till 1914 was due largely to the existence of the Court. Now that wages have a downward tendency if is held that the Arbitration Court will be the victim of such contending forces that its dissolution is quite probable. But if it does disappear what are we to substitute? Are we to go back to the old days of direct bargaining or will some other Court arise that will supersede the Arbitration Court? It is safe to say that the days of direct bargaining arc past, never to return, and that an Arbitration Court of a new order will arise that will have none of the economic weaknesses of the present Court. And what economic weakness is there in the consitution of the present system of arbitration P The weakness is apparent in two directions: First, the present system fails to recognise that a standard wage cannot be fixed either by Act of Parliament or by decision of any Court. The standard wage is a fluctuating quantity, dependent (1) upon the quantity of commodities available and the number of people entitled to share in the distribution of those commodities; (2) upon the system of computation employed in awarding the varying proportions to which the various'sections of the community are entitled. That being so, the question naturally arises whether the constitution of the Arbitration Court does not require revision. The dispute is, after all, not between employer and employee, but between those engaged in one industry and those engaged in all other industries as to the economic value to the community of the services of those engaged in the particular industry winch may be before the Court. The Arbitration Court, as at present constituted, should he abolished and in its place should lie appointed an Industrial Parliament, consisting of representatives of ail industries, who should award to each industry its share of the commodities of life, in proportion to the economic value of the services which it renders to the community.