THE ROUND TABLE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 51, 7 September 1928, Page 9

THE ROUND TABLE

ABOLITION OF ARBITRATION

MOVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, 23rd August. Employers in. New South Wales, and, indeed, "throughout Australia, and an influential body of union opinion in that State, if they agree to disagree on quite a number of tilings, have a single thought on one question at least, and that.is the abolition of compulsory arbitration, and the substitution for it of tho principle of conciliation at the round table. The definite step which will be taken towards that objective, at tho conference of Employers' Federations in Brisbane, is the climax to steady but unobtrusive propaganda throughout Australia for some time past. The trade union movement is preparing a scheme for presentation to the employers, to take the place of the present arbitration system, but whether it will clash with any proposals at the Brisbane conference has yet to be seen. It is one thing, however, to talk of wiping out compulsory arbitration, and quite another to achieve that end through the Statute Book. That the Federal Attorney-General, Dr. Latham, who sponsored the amending Arbitration Act, which employers and employees incidentally regard' as the last straw, and tho Prime Minister, Mr. Bruce, are unequivocally opposed to wiping out the present system, is no secret. Others in the Federal Cabinet aro probably of the same opinion. Vested interests which have grown up ,with tho system will also strongly oppose its abolition. To talk of industrial' peace is very much like asking the lion and the lamb to lie down together, in tho same spirit of amity as characterises Androdus and the lion. The general belief, however, isj that another system will go at least some way towards that cud.