The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1947. ONLY A START?

Evening Star, Issue 26030, 19 February 1947, Page 6

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1947. ONLY A START?

Moderate. elements in the Labour Party have suffered a serious reverse over.: the waterfront dispute, and the authority: of the Government and the Federation of Labour over a single section of the workers has proved to be ineffective. Taking full advantage of the general labour shortage, which made the drafting of volunteer workers ;o the wharves impossible, the waterside workers' defied all the authorities to discipline them; Such tactics are typical of those men in irresponsible militant unions to achieve their objects, and the case of workers engaged on the salvage of the Wangahella was but. another illustration of the cynical disregard of some workers for the welfare of the country or even for the permanency of their own employment. Whether “the liner-valuable at’ any time,- but vital now, a 6 a result of the shipping-■ shortage—came off the reef or became a total wreck did not seem to matter to many of the workers so long as they could extort fantastic earnings tfrom the company over the' mishap. Even when the ship was being moved to the floating dock yesterday, the remaining seamen, egged on by an Australian union official, endeavoured..- to make the task as difficult as possible by a strike at a critical moment.

This sort of thing, possibly on a less piratical scale, is happening in many industries to-day, and large numbers of people are becoming seriously concerned about the possible outcome. If the waterside workers can defy the Government and fly in the face off the advice of the National Executive of the Federation of Labour, there can be little inducement for, other'sections ofthe community to abide loyally by the terms of their employment, determined by a Conciliation Council or the Arbitration Court. The Prime Minister attempted- to take a strong stand in the early stages of the waterfront dispute, and he would have been widely applaufled if he had succeeded in securing some recognition of reason, but he has been over-ruled and must face the humiliation of admitting that his stern warnings had no effect. Mr Fraser has denied that he threatened to resign at the recent conference, but there seems to be no argument about the fact that he spoke strongly against industrial irresponsibility. It has been clear for years that Labour is quite unable to discipline its militant sections, and .the Government’s earliest signs of weakness were , seized upon by unions as opportunities to press further and more fantastic claims. The country could possibly have borne higher costs for labour if work standards had been increased, or even maintained, but along with higher wages for shorter hours has gone less work for the hours actually spent in employment. ■' To make matters much worse, there is less satisfaction among the workers to-day than there ever was before.

* Although the settlement of the waterfront dispute was apparently reached between the Government- and the workers a week ago; without reference. of course, to the companies who will have to pay the increased charges, the terms were not communicated to the employers until yesterday. On a first examination of what the Government has conceded, they think the costs will be heavy. The guaranteed wage principle has been extended to about a dozen more ports, and the amount of possible weekly earnings when no work is available lias been substantially increased. The waterside worker has, therefore, escaped from the class of casual workers, but has still retained the high earnings that were previously permitted because his occupation was on a casual basis. The average earnings of men engaged in this industry over the last few years in the main ports have been high, but it can be expected that they will lie much higher in the future. They have already been raised substantially above those available to skilled tradesmen, who have to serve a long period of apprenticeship, and workers in the lesser professions. In other words, this country is now faced with air aristocracy of the wharf. I Almost the worst feature ■ of the affair is that the jubilant waterside workers do not seem yet to be eom--1 pletely satisfied, but apparently regard I these latest concessions only as a start. ! They want to participate with other workers in any benefits granted in the j near future by the Arbitration Court ‘ by way of a general order; they have

other claims still in mind, and they support the absurd demand that living costs should not be allowed to rise along with wages. Economists and, in fact, all intelligent persons t must be baffled by the reasoning that believes costs of production can be increased without the goods produced costing more. If. the concessions made to waterside workers last year and this amount, as seems likely, to more than a quarter of a million pounds a year, that sum must be added to the price of the goods handled. Overseas buyers of New Zealand produce will not pay it, so the farmer will get less, while the consumers in this country of goods handled on the wharves must pay more. It is another step towards in-, flation and a fall in living standards, and ultimately of no advantage to anyone.