CONDONATION CONDEMNED

Evening Star, Issue 22576, 18 February 1937, Page 7

CONDONATION CONDEMNED

iTHC FREEZING WORKS DISPUTE FMMEJK PROTEST 0 | At the monthly meeting of the Otago Provincial Council of t e * 'Zealand Farmers’ Union held thw Tnnrnimr the chairman (Mr J*. <*• rSTrred to the attitude taken W the Government in connection with Auckland Farmers’ freezing ComWs dispute. The position was explained, and the chairman that onlv bad the men gone on strike had also, taken possession of the, '*“*oo6 would have expected the Government to have maintained law and order and to have immediately prosecuted the offending workers, as 3the Government would most certainlj , ! have done had the employers been the offenders,” said the Chairman. But •instead of doing Government i deliberately instructed the police not Ho interfere, and the workers were , allowed! to occupy the freezing works, i I until the Minister of Labour, in his ‘own good time, proceeded to Auck--1 Viand, to reason with them. Again, m- ; stead of insisting upon the resumption .of work, as a preliminary to negotiation with the employers, the Minister ordered the employers to concede certain of the workers’ demands. “If this is the way in _ which a * Government, which promised justice to all sections of the community, carries out its duties, then it does not inspire ;,the employing section of the community with very much confidence. . He then moved:

That this council expresses an emphatic protest against the actibn of the Government in condoning the action of the Auckland 1 freezing workers in flouting the •provisions of the Arbitration Court, and in breaking the law by '"illegally occupying the freezing ‘works: and further, this council emphatically protests against the ■ arbitrary action of the Minister ef Labour giving way to the demands of the workers, and in ordering the employers to pay a higher rate than that laid down by the Arbitration Court.

A copy of this resolution is to he forwarded) to, the Dominion Executive of the Farmers’ Union, with the request that it associate itself with other farmers’ organisations in placing before the Government the views of the farming community upon this matter. Mr James Begg said he was glad that the matter had been brought up. The Government had not only condoned the action, but actually became a party to it. It came as a shock to all employers of labour. Mr A. C. Cameron said that through Sts action, the Government had lowered the prestige of a court which was set up by the Government itself to administer justice. The Government ■h4i also established a dangerous precedfent in showing that it could be “ bounced ” by a vote-controlling union. One could well imagine what would happen during the next year or two when labour difficulties arose. The employer must abide by the letter of ' the law or pay the penalty, the employee (if he had the union behind him) might treat his awards with impunity. Another important aspect of •%he.whole matter was tbe.W?® in,,which ■primary, industries , were being saddled Jwitb costs which must eventually tend 'to absorb any margin which might re‘iTnnin between .cost of production and {the ultimate market values for the product itself. - Freezing charges were (.steadily climbing with every fresh - faward; handling charges, wharf .charges, shipping freights were increasing, but the London market price •of meat and dairy produce was no better than it had been in the past. It

'certainly did not make things any easier 'when the Government itself was seen ordering the freezing employers to pay more than the _ Arbitration Court considered to he a fair minimum. Several other speakers condemned the action of the Government in connection with the dispute', and the following extract was. read from a letter written by .Mr D. H. Cockburn '(Queenstown): “It should he made clear to the public that deplorable weakness was displayed_ on the part of the honourable the Minister of Labour, and that his tactics, though, of course, dalculated to stimulate popularity for hia '■ party, are undoubtedly paving the ,way . for endless trouble,, which will, bedirected, not only against primary producers, but against every industry in this country. I should like to remind members when debating this question that on top of comparatively high, or in, fact excessive rates of pay which have prevailed in the freezing business for years back, over 40 per cent, has been added to costs through legislation /passed within the last 12 months, and that-£30,000 was actually piled on top of .this, due to the terms of the settlement made in this most recent dispute. The 40 per cent, is authentic, and will stand investigation. It appears to me that the passive attitude of those affected in such circumstances is likely to be taken as approval and may he capitalised and used against them later, if objections are not raised.”

The writer then offered the following resolution:—

“Seeing that primary products in New Zealand account for more than 95 per cent, of the annual income, the ill-considered and obviously inconsistent policy of the Government in ignoring the ability of this, the principal indus” try, to pay when fixing rates of wages and remuneration, is "in the opinion of this executive sure to bring disastrous results ,to the whole community in the not too distant future.” several speakers had expressed opinions in favour of the motion contained in Mr Cockburn’s letter, it was seconded and carried.