The Evening Star WEDNESDAY. APRIL 17. 1946. WHO ARE THE VILLAINS?

Evening Star, Issue 25770, 17 April 1946, Page 6

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY. APRIL 17. 1946. WHO ARE THE VILLAINS?

As an advocate for industrial peace, Mr T. Hill, secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union, adopts strange methods. He it was, it will be remembered, who declared recently that employers' endorsements of the F. B. Walsh report to the Federation j of Labour were like " the kiss of death." Now he professes to be satisfied that some employers desire strikes. As the representative and spokesman of one of the most militant unions in the country, which, in the north at any rate, appears to have taken every possible opportunity to create industrial stoppages, Mr Hill claims that only in continued and progressive concessions to the workers will there be any hope of industrial harmony. His colleague on the executive of-the Federation of Labour, Mr Walsh, from his experience gained as a member of the Stabilisation Commission, has been convinced, however, that no hope lies for the workers in the direction advocated by Mr Hill. There, in essence, is the conflict which exists in Labour circles to-day. Mr Hill chooses recklessly to place the blame for strikes and disputes, which have recently been so frequent, on employers, claiming that they hope to gain political advantage in an election year by those, dubious methods. Jf his reasoning was logical. Mr Hill might he expected to counsel his followers to refuse to accept any challenge the workers might receive, and so, by an example of industrial docility, rob the wicked schemers of their opportunities to put the Labour Government in its grave. In his public statements he has not noticeably adopted those tactics, and there has certainly been no diminution of strikes and stoppages. The state of affairs on the Auckland waterfront has become a public scandal, and if it reacts against the Labour Government the waterside workers will have onlv themselves to thank. MiHill's allegations against employers come strangely from the representative of a union whose members are not engaged by the shipping companies, but by a Government-appointed coinmission set up to appease the workers and create industrial harmony. Inn position of that commission has been

I made intolerable by the flouting of its ;! decisions, by the waterside workers. Not content with holding up the loading of food ships for famine-stricken Europe, the union appears to bo determined to prevent any speeding up of loading now that the dispute has officially ended with the usual Government capitulation. If the waterside workers desire to create as much chaos as possible, both within and outside of New Zealand, they are succeeding beyond reasonable expectations. The shortage and slow handling of coastal shipping are creating serious difficulties for industries throughout New Zealand. Shipments of food urgently needed on the other side of the world are delayed, and fertiliser required by the farmers to maintain their production is diverted to another country. When they see these things happening, moderate elements among the waterside workers, who are surely still in the majority, must realise that they are being badly led. The Prime Minister cannot but be embarrassed! by the representations which ho will receive from the Auckland Harbour Board, asking for an inquiry into the causes of stoppages and discontent; on the waterfronts of the Dominion. His ' followers are getting completely out of hand, and they, rather than the employers, appear likely to bring the Government to its graveyard. Mr Hill argues that the granting of the legitimate claims of the workers will open the road to industrial peace. For the last ten years the claims of the workers, legitimate and otherwise, have been consistently granted, but industrial peace has been lessened rather than advanced. The calls of the Government for more production from labour have, so far. fallen on deaf ears, and they will continue to do so while the workers' spokesmen use such arguments as are voiced! bv Mr Hill.