One Pound A Week “Or Else ...” Mr Hill Says

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 March 1947, Page 4

One Pound A Week “Or Else ...” Mr Hill Says

Challenging Campaign By Militant Trade Unions [SPECIAL TO STAR]

WELLINGTON, This Day.

A challenge to the authority of the Court of Arbitration is contained in the campaign now being developed by the militant unions behind the claims of the New Zealand Federation of Labour for a full £1 a week increase in wages for.the workers. Union branches are passing resolutions and union journals are publishing editorials demanding that the full pound shall be granted. They threaten that if it is not, “further steps will, be taken.”

The. militant unions, who have a majority within the national council of the Federation of Labour, have determined that the £1 a week is the next big issue on which, they are prepared to fight all-comers —the employers, chambers of commerce, the Court of Arbitration, or the Government. They claim that no one can deny the worker has lost ground to the full extent of £ 1 a week, and they are prepared to go to the full length to get that pound.

Not only do they openly declare they well do this, but they demand also that the Government must act to prevent prices from rising when wages are increased. Round this policy the same powerful industrial forces that achieved the overthorow of the Waterfront Industry Commission and the establishment of higher guarantees and better conditions for watersiders are now being marshalled. Watersiders' Agitation

Just how much the unions expect to receive from the Court is indicated by the secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union, Mr T. Hill, who writing in the March issue of the New Zealand Transport Worker says: “The Arbitration Court has never been noted for its generosity towards the workers. A perusal of recent awards issued by the Court shows that 5s a week, or l|d an hour is the maximum they have granted.

“Therefore to win the 6d an hour (£1 for 40-hour week) we must mobilise, in that way we can put the representatives of the Federation of Labour in the position to inform the Cojurt that the sixpence must be granted, or else

“The necessity for agitation is beyond question. We have only to glance across the Tasman to Australia, where the powerful Australian Council of Trade Unions applied for £ 1 a week increase. After a long drawnout hearing the Court granted 7/-. The decision provoked a storm of industrial trouble. Now the unions are having to fight the employers for the other 13s and are meeting with success.” This and similar references in union journals and in union branch resolutions indicate the militant unions now feel themselves strong enough to tackle the Court of Arbitration. Several have already hinted that because of delayp and decisions unsatisfactory to the workers they will break away from the Court’s jurisdiction to achieve their demands.

Function Of Court

Mi' Hill’s article continues on this point: “The function of the Court has been clearly defined. It is not so much to determine wages and conditions as to preserve industrial peace. If it wants to do that, the way is obvious. But the Court’s value to the employers in the past has been demonstrated by their demand for all disputes to go to arbitration. They love the Arbitration Court. Harry Holland,

Bob Semple and others aptly referred to it as the ‘leg-iron for Labour.’ ”

Mr Hill’s union has long since left the Court of Arbitration itself, but has arranged with the Government that it will benefit from any wage increase the Court may shortly grant. His union has for some years had sufficient industrial power to take much of what it has wanted. Its recent major victory is already inspiring other unions to contemplate direct action. *

While the waterfront dispute had hardly begun the New Zealand Tramway Employees’ Union was taking a national poll on the issue of moving for a national agreement, or, alternatively, deregistering under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act and registering instead under the Trades Union Act. This move would place disputes under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act, which gives the worker the legal right to strike. “Leg-Iron For Labour”

The official journal of the New Zealand Carpenters’ Union recently echoed the cry that the Court was in fact a “leg-iron for Labour.” The president of the New Zealand Labourers’ Federation, Mr P. M. Butler, has also hinted that the time may have come for unions to seek satisfaction of their demands by some constitutional means other than the Court of Arbitration.

The militant unions have in fact used other means. The Strikes and Lock-outs Emergency Regulations, a wartime measure, have been employed frequently over the last 12 months to force swift settlement of industrial disputes, in many of which the Court has already given its ruling. This method of circumventing the Court and forcing further concessions has become extremely popular. Strike and Lock-out Tribunals, however, meet under the threat of direct action on the part of unions, and their decisions cannot fail to come under the influence of that threat. It is a threat that emerges from the union’s full appreciation of their industrial power in a time of grave labour shortage. When labour is more plentiful they will be ready again to seek the shelter of the Court. As things are at present, however, the militant unions are powerful enough to move independently of the Court. . Government May Not Survive It is not only consciousness of their new power that moves the unions to take direct action and to talk of abandoning or challenging the Court at this stage. There is at the same time a realisation that the Government of the day may not survive its present term, and that in any case that it is not disposed without pressure to grant more concessions to the unions. Therefore the unions are setting out to take for themselves as big a slice they can of a “new order,” while there is still time.

and a peace bonus of 6d a share, require £66,366, a contribution to Otago centennial. celebrations takes £lOOO, and, with £15,000 transferred to general reserve, £4751 is left to increase carry-forward to £41,723. Dividend has been maintained at 8 per cent, since 1935, increased by a bonus of 5s a share from general reserve fund in 1938. Gold Mines of N.Z.—The dredge returns for the first half of March were: Arahura dredge.—Ran 254 hours and treated 154,000 cubic yards for a return 0f’387 ounces. Kanieri dredge.—Ran 155 hours and treated 64,000 cubic yards for a return of 188 ounces. Severe Decline In Wall Street Prices Reported NEW YORK, March 16. The stock market has not reacted sharply to President Truman’s new policy overtures, although concern over British and American relations with Russia is considered to be one factor in the severe declines in share prices during the last eight days. The loss for the week on a composite average was 1.44 points, and Saturday’s figure of 119.3 was only 0.29 above bottom level for 1947, recorded on January 16. - Some traders admit discouragement at the market’s failure to respond to bullish news, notably in earnings, dividends, and high production levels, including steel, which is producing 95.8 per cent, of capacity—the highest level for nearly two years. Bearish influences include a fear of impending labour troubles.