ARBITRATION LAW

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 90, 13 October 1931, Page 8

ARBITRATION LAW

(To the Editor.) Sir,—ln your sub-leader on Bth October you state, "Conciliation had tended to become an ineffective part of the machinery," etc. But that is not backed by facts. It has been stressed that the Court of Arbitration fixes conditions which are not elastic enough. It is not fair to blame the Court for such happenings (if any), seei ing that 90 per cent, of the industrial disputes were agreed to by the parties themselves, either in conferences or in Conciliation Councils, and to show that the conciliation part of the law is functioning and has done so for years past in the settlement of disputes between the parties I give a table of the disputes which have taken place and the number settled without recourse to the Court of Arbitration, l other than to have the agreements or recommendations made into awards.

At the end of March, 1930, the total number of awards and industrial agreements in force was 468. Now what conditions in any of these awards would you say require more flexibility? Quite a lot of talk has taken place about reducing costs, but that agitation only means reducing wages.—l am, etc., E. KENNEDY. Writing on the same subject D. S. Armstrong holds that "compulsory conciliation" is a confusion of terms, since conciliation —the establishment of goodwill by removing antagonism—cannot be brought about by coercion. The'writer contends also that compulsory conciliation will- mean an attack on the wage-earner's standard of living. [The fact that a greater number of disputes are settled at the Conciliation Councils is admitted, but it does not prove that true conciliation is used as far as it should be in regulating industrial conditions according to the needs of the time. In many instances even agreements merely apply the rulings of the Court, which are necessarily somewhat rigid, when it would be for the benefit of workers and employers if greater elasticity were provided for.—Ed.]

1 STear. Disputes.'Settled. 1021 258 236 1922 147 112 1023 157 124 1024 130 120 1025 171 ' 145 1926 133 121 1927 142 130 192S ....... 84 85 1929 S3 .78 i. erceni.age. 91.5 7G.2 73.98 92.C. 87.9 91.7 93.6 90.4 94