WAGES COUNCILS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 14, 17 January 1945, Page 6

WAGES COUNCILS

NEW BRITISH LABOUR BILL

Rec 1.30 p.m. RUGBY, Jan. 16. The Wages Councils Bill, introduced m the House of Commons by the" Minister of Labour, Mr. Ernest Bevin on Tuesday, is likely, if passed, to have far-reaching consequences. It will afreet the lives of nearly sixteen million wage-earners and their dependants on almost every side of their lives.

Its aim is to establish a new national wage structure which will guarantee every worker that he or she will be paid the wages agreed upon by employers and trade unions and so eliminate the bad employer. Introducing the Bill, Mr. Bevin said that the purposes of the Bill were, first of all, to bring the Trades Broads Act up to date and to rename the Trades Boards as Wages Councils. The changing of the name not only widened the Trades Boards legislation, but was also a declaration by Parliament that the day of sweated labour was past. The Bill also proposed to provide additional powers for establishing councils where voluntary machinery was inadequate and a reasonable standard of remunera-' tion was not likely to be maintained. The third proposal in the Bill was to continue the provision of part three of the Conditions of Employment and National Arbitration Act of 1940 for a limited period to tide over the transition from war to peace. This would continue the obligation oh employers to observe terms and conditions of employment not less favourable than the recognised terms and conditions in the trade or industry in the district. Mr. Bevin said this introduced a new principle, but he felt it imperative during the period of transition. It was intended to prevent strikes breaking out where non-federated firms thought they were free from the moral obligations that others had entered into. Stability was needed to give confidence to men returning from the forces, to show they were to have a fair deal and to maintain voluntary agreements which had been of inestimable value during the war. Mr. Bevin added that it was vital that these boards should not only deal with questions but also be encouraged to advise on problems associated with their industries. This would become more vital as time went 0n. —8.0. W.

Material shortages for the Canadian and Allied armies, General McNaughton told interviewers at Camp Borden, are being overcome "with amazing speed." The situation, General McNaughton added, had been more critical m respect to munitions and supplies than in respect to man-power.,