SETTLEMENT OF STRIKES.

Evening Star, Issue 25472, 1 May 1945, Page 4

SETTLEMENT OF STRIKES.

Auckland gas consumers will be glad that their perilously precarious supply has been restored, but neither they nor the rest of the people of New Zealand can feel proud of the manner in which the Government submitted to the dictates of the retort house workers who caused the latest of many interruptions in the supply of gas in the city. Shortages of coal, sometimes due to shipping, but more often duo to disputes among the miners, will long since have made the people of Auckland dissatisfied with gas as a fuel for heating and cooking, but the gas workers themselves havo now shown that they also have a complete disregard for the convenience and requirements of the people they serve. The Government is no less culpable because it has in the past proved its compliance with the will of workers in 'key

industries to dictate to all and sundry, to hamper the war effort, and generally to behave without any consideration for other sections of the community. The temporary, and possibly permanent solution of last week's strike was contrived along lines which have become familiar practice since 1942, when the Government took control of the Waikato coal mines on the instructions of the miners. Such information as is available suggests that the gasworks strike was thoroughly discreditable to the workers concerned, as it involved a refusal of the men to permit two of their number to be directed to other work to permit the release of two men to the armed forces. The directions were made by the man-power officer and confirmed "by the local industrial man-power committee, it must be supposed, with a full knowledge of tbo facts, and iu view of the constant shortago of gas, reported almost weekly from Auckland, tbe public also might conclude that two of the retort house workers could be spared from their duties. The workers, however, decided otherwise and have gained the support of the Minister of Man Power and the Acting Minister of Labour, who have overruled and betrayed their own officer and tribunal.

The servicemen of New Zealand who have fought so valiantly in all theatres and services of the war can have little respect for some sections of the Home Front as they learn of the increasing frequency of strikes and industrial disorganisation occurring within New Zealand. It is scarcely to the credit of the Labour Government that strikes have been more numerous since it took office than in the term of its predecessors, and that the figures for war-time strikes have broken all records for the country. Some sections of workers appear to have had little or no regard for the importance of the war effort, and they have forfeited the sympathy of the rest of the community because, almost .inevitably, their actions have caused inconvenience to other workers. It is a serious commentary on the patriotism of some New Zealand workers that last year the industrial dispute figures reached record levels, more than doubling in number of strikes and working days lost those for 1943, which themselves were above the war-time average. In 149 disputes last year, 52,602 working days were lost—equal to the full .yearly working time of more than 200 men. Published reports of industrial disputes this year—including the railway strike in January—suggest that 1945 may continue the upward trend. The plain fact is that the Government has never been able to secure the full co-operation, even in war time, of. some sections of the workers it cla.i s to represent, and by its weak handling of industrial disputes it has encouraged irresponsibility on the part of key unions, instead of imbuing them with any patriotic desire to support the magnificent war effort of those in the armed forces, \