THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 18044, 11 August 1922, Page 7

THE LABOR MOVEMENT

[By Vetehan.] Brief contributions on matters with reference to the Labor Movement are invited, ' CONCILIATION. Mr P. Hally has recently been appointed Conciliation Commissioner for the Auckland industrial district, and on Thursday last ho presided for the first time since his appointment to that district. Mr S. E. Wright, who appeared for the employers, welcomed Mr Hally on behalf of the assessors for both sides, and commented on his experience in the settlement of industrial troubles. •

Mr Hally, in reply, said that he would do his best to preserve industrial peace. It was quite true that ho had had a good deal of experience in this work; ,but he was satisfied, judging by his experience, that the part played by a Commissioner was very small in the settlement of disputes. It was quite possible that ho might on occasions extend some assistance, but unless the parties themselves had a disposition to agree among themselves it was little that the Commissioner or any other person could do to adjust the difficulty. This was particularly so at the present time, as wages appeared to have reached their limit; but he urged, so' far as future disputes were concerned, both in Auckland and other places, that the employers would not‘attempt to adjust wages to the 1914 level too rapidly. If a reduction of wages was absolutely necessary, ho asked them to bo patient in asking for it. On the other hand, die suggested that tile workers might during this period of deprivation co-operate with the employers and do their best in order to overcome the bad times that apparently existed at the present moment. Regarding conciliation proceedings, ho would he glad of their assistance, and it was his intention to cany out the procedure bid down in the Act. Ho had found on many occasions that assessor’s were nominated tint had no actual experience of the industry concerning which they were called upon to settle a dispute. For instance, a man one day would come along as an assessor for one particular trade, and on the following day as an assessor for a totally different trade. This was not right, and in future he would expect the parties nominated as assessors to have somo experience of the particular industry with which the dispute was concerned.

ft ■» ff a METHODS OF CONDUCTING A STRIKE. An English Labor writer comments on the different methods of conducting strikes in various parts of the world. Deal mg with the South African minors’ strike, he says the striker's on the Rand degenerated into ibrutal murderers, who wantonly murdered inoffensive natives and others who did not see eye to eye with them, while had they played their part correctly they would have had the_ sym-pathy-practical as well as theoretical — of the trade unionists of the world. It makes soimy reading to hear of the outrages committed by the men on the one hand, 'and on the other to read that an airman rained down bombs on a hail in which a meeting of strikers was taking place, and that" a large number of the strikers were killed. This English writer says :—“ Compare this method of conducting a strike with that of the worst strike which has taken place in our modern history 7. Wo had close on a million minors and men in incidental trades, who stopped work because they would not accept the reduction of wages which the mine owners wished to impose upon them. Amongst them were hundreds of thousands of trained soldiers who had faced death in France, Flanders, and other parts of our far-flung battle line during the great war. .they behaved with a restraint which compels admiration —although they have not bad too much of that, especially from the employing class. In the great strike of 1911 the dockers, carters, seamen and firemen, stewards, and engine and cranemen behaved with a solidarity_ and discipline which enabled them to win a great victory with the full sympathy and approval of the general public. They acted o-i the justifiable belief that no provocation just ties-murder, and that industrial disputes can bo settled without (blfiodshed. Is there any country in the world where we could see the spectacle that we have witnessed this week of nearly a million men thrown out of work through a trade dispute, to whom the Government, makes no unemployment allowance, and their union, through a heavy drain on their funds caused by bad trade, can give no out-of-work pay. behaving with a restraint which, considering their numbers and their cause, is wonderful in the extreme? And is it nob a humiliating admission on the part of the Government that it cannot stop a terrible dispute of this nature by compelling a mutual settlement. A tiriko is another form of civil war in which the community suffers from lack - of production. the men’s wives and children from a reduced scale of living, and the employer not only through a depreciation of his. profits, but also of his machinery, which suffers more from rust than from activity. Strikes, in the main, are the last weapon of the workers. They know that if they do not make a strong protest against a reduction in wages and an increase in the hours of labor the employers will make further reductions, and well-meaning employers may protest that this is not so. yet the facts are against them. It is time that we learned the real reason of life — that the world's work is done through good faith and understanding.”

# # # INSURANCE AGENTS’ UNION,

Under the above heading, “Industrial Tramp,”' in the Auckland 1 Star,’ says: “ Some little time ago a number of insurance canvassers and agents asked my advice as to forming a union to protect their interests. I did not see that .they could get registration as an industrial union, and no award could bo framed to meet their case, as they worked largely on commission. From a Labor exchange I gather the following bearing on the subject in Australia:

“ ‘ The Industrial Registrar of New South Wales has refused to register tje Life Assurance Agents’ Union of Employees as an industrial union. Objection to the registration was lodged by large insurance companies. In concluding his judgment, the Industrial Registrar said: “I have considered whether or not I may at present regard such a body as a bona fide union of employees, or whether I may allow an amendment of tho constitution of the union and an adjustment of its membership, so as to exclude those persons whom I am unable to regard as employees within the Act for the purpose of then determining whether it could be a bona fide industrial union of employees if registered. I have come to the conclusion that I may not do so, and that the applicant body as at present existing is not a bona fide trade union of employees. I therefore refuse registration.” ’ ”

# * » «• USELESS STRIKES. The uselessness of recent strikes to the working classes was referred to by Mr Harry Gosling in his presidential address at the twelfth annual conference of delegates representing the unions affiliated to tlie National Transport Workers’ Federation, which opened at Cardiff on Juno 8. Consolidation within the ranks of trade unionists, said Mr Gosling, was the only effective method of countering improvements and combinations in the employers’ organisation. The federation was therefore seeking co-operation with three railway organisations for the purpose of including them in future efforts towards an enlarged Federation of Transport and Railway Workers. Dealing with wage cuts which had been accepted by the workers, Mr Gosling said that the leader's were convinced that present-day conditions did not warrant the expectation that they would have won through bv strike action. An analysis of the industrial position since the armistice would prove that, for,none of the strikes that had taken place had homo tangible or useful results to the working class. The march of events in organisations which had fought had phown that neither the financial. numerical, nor moral strength of such organisations was any better than that of their union, which under economic duress had accepted wage

adjustments of a downward character. •At the same time they were faced with further applications on the part of_ tire employers for still more wage reductions. The employing class could not see beyond a two-fold policy. Firstly, by reducing wages -to. lower the purchasing power of the workers, and thus materially affect tho homo market; secondly, to increase production and to speed up and oven lengthen tho hours of tiro working day at a time when there were nearly 2,000,000 unemployed, # * » # A WARNING TO LABOR. The Labor Party, under wise guidance, is destined to play a great part in the evolution of this country. It represents the just and legitimate ambition of thousands of excellent citizens. Its disappearance, even its undue weakening (says lho London ‘ Daily _ Express’) would be little less than a national disaster. Should the public mind, however, definitely come to identify its policy or its methods with those of a violent and discredited Communism, tho party fvill speedily bo driven off tlie field. It will not easily re-form its ranks. The worker of this country is very sane. He deserves sane leaders.