INDUSTRIAL RANCOUR

Evening Star, Issue 25632, 5 November 1945, Page 9

INDUSTRIAL RANCOUR

STATE OF LATENT HOSTILITY Ci CHURCH APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN MEN AND MASTERS (P.A.) INVERCARGILL, Nov. 4. " After' all that has been said and done towards improving the relations between Capital and Labour we find ' ourselves faced with a situation in many industries which, if not one of actual industrial warfare, is at least next door to industrial war," said the Rev. L. H. Ker (Middlemarch), at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, when speaking to the report of the Public Questions Committee, which expressed the hope that-Chris-tian employers and employees would support every effort to foster a better spirit in industry. " There is much suspicion on both sides and'there is a wrong relationship altogether," Mr Ker added. " There are difficulties in the coal mines or at least in some of them, on the waterfront, and to a certain extent in the freezing works. This state of affairs does not exist in all industries, and in some there is a movement to establish works councils on which representatives of the management and representatives of the workeTs could meet and take each other into their confidence. Such joint consultations make for better relationships, for co-operation, and for more of the spirit of Christianity. Unfortunately there are some industries in which the spirit of co-operation is conspicuous by its absence, and I have wondered whether the leaders of the National Council of Churches should not consider what steps ought to be taken to bring about a better and more Christian spirit in these industries." Mr Ker added that he did not suggest that one side was more to blame than the other, and he certainly did not suggest that the workers were' wrong in every case. Had the churches of New Zealand a leader or leaders who would take steps to foster the spirit of co-operation in. industry ? Agreement with Mr Ker's remarks was expresseed by Professor J. A. Allan, of Dunedin. He suggested that public relations committees of all presbyteries should look into the question of works councils. There was some doubt about what the attitude of the Church should be towards economic questions, but there was no doubt about the fact that the Churchy was concerned with human relations in all departments of life. Works councils were not new, he added. They had been experimented with in many countries, and they had also been operated to a certain extent in New Zealand, though hardly anyone in this country knew anything about them. They at least provided a channel through which the - great amount of goodwill that existed on both sides of industry might flow. He hoped that this question would receive attention from the Chttrch, and that from this attention fruitful results might arise. Mr F. H. Harvey (Dunedin) suggested that the views that had been expressed on the relations between Capital and Labour should be placed before business men who were members of the Church. If they were not prepared to support these views, then it would not be much use appealing to business men who were outside the Church. If the Church did not get the support of its own members he did not see how the Church could make its influence felt in the industrial field. " Industrial unrest is a symptom of disease in the hearts of men, and the attacking of this disease appears to me to be the main concern of the Church," Mr Harvey added. The Rev. F. W. Winton said he had been alarmed at the bitterness shown by both sides of industry. He thought that this bitterness was due primarily to ignorance. Neither side thoroughly understood the other's problems.