SPREAD OF VICTORIAN STRIKE EPIDEMIC

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22319, 2 May 1947, Page 4

SPREAD OF VICTORIAN STRIKE EPIDEMIC

RY their action in defying instructions by the full executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions that the men should return to work by May 7, the Victorian officials of the Amalgamated Engineering Union threaten chaos and disruption throughout the State, with the possibility that the trouble will spread to New South Wales. The movement, which has been described as an open rebellion against the arbitration system, is a form of direct action aimed at gaining for the workers an increase in pay of £1 a week. In. a carefully reasoned judgment on union claims, the Arbitration Court, in awarding pay increases ranging from 5/- to 9/- a week, appears to have gone as far as it could in weighing the men’s request against the right of the community to have certain utilities and services operated without an embarrassing rise in costs. Such a reconciliation was bound to be difficult. A result that pleased everybody was hardly to be expected. The court’s award, however, offered real advantages to the unions, and it is felt that these arc recognised by a large section of the rank-and-file members. Unfortunately still another case of union totalitarianism has arisen. The ringleaders of the strike measures fail to realise that nothing in the award challenges the principle that the rewards of labour should be as high as is consonant with present economic conditions. It is production that pays wages. Now, as always, any union’s aini of better wages depends on the maintenance of better production levels. Viewed from this angle, the futility of striking for higher wages stands revealed as an elementary truth. The mischiefmakers among the unionists can only be accused of fomenting industrial strife as part of a bitter class warfare most reprehensible in its every aspect. At the moment the Amalgamated Engineeiing Union proclaims itself unworried over deregistration. It seems confident of getting what it wants. It remains to be seen whether its confidence is justified. Now there are signs that the challenge is to be met. The General public feel that this challenge has been too long ignored. If the issue is forced, the community will stand by any measures which the Government feels impelled to adopt. Coming events will be viewed with interest in New Zealand as well as in Australia.