NO DELAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 127, 1 June 1938, Page 12

NO DELAY

MAKING OF AWARDS

EMPLOYERS' PART

REPLY TO COMPLAINT

s A reply to a recent Labour comj plaint of delay in the making of award# was made today by Mr. T. O. Bishop, t secretary of the New Zealand Employers' Federation. . "During the last few months, I have frequently been reminded of what a t prominent union secretary, not now i in office, once said to me several yeari [ ago," he said. "I had made an appeal ■ to him to endeavour to remove, thf ; dissatisfaction which existed in the industry with which he was connected, and had said I thought if he would co- • operate with me we might be able to create a satisfied body of workers in place of the highly dissatisfied body of workers then existing. He replied that I did not understand his point of view, and that the last thing he desired to see in the industry with which he_was conected was a satisfied body" of workers. "I am reminded of that remark' because it seems to me that prominent trade union officials today, in. the absence of a real grievance, take steps, to disseminate propaganda with the idea of creating imaginary grievances, and fostering the spirit of resentment at these grievances in the minds of large numbers of the workers. It appears as though there is a danger of there being created a satisfied body of workers, and so, those who do not desire a satisfied body of workers keep on endeavouring to create grievances where there should be none existing. "Of this nature is the statement issued in last Saturday's 'Evening Post' by the Trades and Labour Council of the Federation of Labour. With a portion of this statement, referring to the delay on the part of the Court of Arbitration in making awards, I am entirely in agreement. I think there is far too much delay, and that a good deal of it could be avoided if the Court were a little more systematic in dealing with its cases. However, that is a matter which only the Court can rectify. "FAR FROM THE TRUTH." "I do take very strong exception t# the other part of the statement, namely, that the employers deliberately hold up agreements with the object of defrauding workers of their just dues. That is so far, from the truth that I cannot allow it to pass unchallenged. The facts are that for the, last two years every employers', organisation, and all the secretaries of employers' organisations, have been working at extremely high pressure endeavouring to catch up with the vast number ..of citations filed by workers' unions. Far from there having been any unnecessary delay, we have all been doing our utmost to keep the work up to date, and to deal with cases as expeditiously as possible. There have been delays certainly, many of them due to the workers' own error in the first instance. When a workers' union files a citation it is seldom indeed that there is any consultation with the employers concerned as* to the which tha citation shall be dealt wfth. The union secretary concerned arranges a data with the Conciliation Commissioner; the first ;the employers hear about itis the formal--notification that the-data, has been fixed. Frequently that date clashes with a date already fixed by : another Conciliation Commissioner for another dispute, and as the same officer has to take both cases it is necessary that one or other shall be adjourned. If the union secretaries, when filing disputes, would first get into touch with the employers' representative and arrange with him a suitable date, a number of delays could be avoided. Certainly, in the last two years most of the delays have sprung '■ from this cause. "It is further stated by the Trades and Labour Council that employers' assessors hold out on unessential points in conciliation council, thus robbing the. of thousands of. pounds. There is, of course, a difference between the employer's viewpoint and the worker's viewpoint as to what is and what is not an essential point. I can only say, in my own- experience, I haye found employers' assessor# • throughout all conciliation council proceedings exceedingly friendly disposed towards the workers, and not at any time disposed to hold- out' on unessential points. It is . seldom that more than two or three, or, at the, most, half a. doztf; important matters are held over in conciliation council and referred to the Court of Arbitration. HOURS OF WORK. "A matter referred to the Court in a number of recent cases is that of hours of work, when a recent decision of the late Mr. Justice Page had fixed the hours at more than 40 per week. Naturally, the employers were not willing to'forgo the benefit of a decision recently given in their favour on .this , all-important question, and so, when unions refused to embody in new awards any provisions for' hours in excess of forty, the cases had to ba sent on to the Court. In several cases, had the hours claim of the last award been accepted by the union concerned, all other clauses could have been settled in council.

| "I have not at the moment a list of | the number of Conciliation Council meetings and the number , of Arbitra- ! tion Court cases dealt with in the last j two years, but I. can .say without any I hesitation that almost the whole of the | time at the disposal of the staffs of ! employers' organisations in the last two years, week after week, month after month, has been occupied in dealing with industrial disputes, and they, have been dealt with as promptly, as expeditiously, and as reasonably as has been possible under the circum"l make this statement because I think it is due to the employers of tha Dominion that the fair-minded, generous way in which they have met tha obligations imposed upon them by recent legislation of the Government should be recognised."