GENERAL ORDERS ON WAGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 113, 14 May 1940, Page 6

GENERAL ORDERS ON WAGES

Without waiting to introduce special legislation, the Government has decided to act under its war powers and issue regulations allowing the Court of Arbitration to make general orders affecting wages. The announcement by the Minister of Labour does not outline the procedure to be followed, but states the factors to be taken into consideration: "the economic and financial conditions affecting trade and industry in New Zealand, the cost of living, and other considerations which the Court deems relevant." Obviously these considerations must vary considerably with different branches of industry and different groups of workers. One industry with an assured internal market may be able to pass on all extra costs, another may be quite unable to do so. Industries dependent on the export market, including primary production, may be able to keep up the living standard for some workers only by reducing it for others. Again, with the cost of living, .a decline for one section—the lowest paid—is a much more serious matter than for those who have still a good margin and who may be asked to surrender part of it as a contribution to economic stability in the war. Because there are these great and vital differences in industrial conditions it is essential that the regulations should make it possible for the Court to hear argument and evidence on all phases of the problem and to deal with the exceptions where inclusion under a general order might ldad to inequity and a serious handicap on industry.