MEASURE DEFENDED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22416, 25 August 1947, Page 4

MEASURE DEFENDED

SECRET_ BALLOT SOME AMENDMENTS MUCH MISUNDERSTANDING (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Aug. 25. "There is obviously a considerable misunderstanding among so-me trade unionists, some of whom have been almost stridently, if mistakenly, vocal concerning the secret ballot clauses of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill at present before the Labour Bills Committee,” said the Prime Minister, Mr. P. Fraser, in in interview in Auckland. ‘‘There has been a certain amount of misrepresentation, particularly in regard to certain clauses on which the Minister of Labour, Mr. MeLagan, has intimated that he would he pleased to receive and consider any suggested amendments.” The Minister, said Mr. Fraser, had invited the council of the Federation of Labour to let him have any draft amendments it though desirable, and he would guarantee for them his most favourable consideration provided the principle of the secret ballot was not prejudiced. No Proposals Received "As far as I am aware, no proposals for an amendment of the measure were sent in by the council. The Minister informs me 1 , however, that probably the bill will be amended in the Labour Bills' Committee. This is a normal course.

"1 expect that the readjustments will be generally acceptable after a discussion with Mr. McLagan, I anticipate that the principle of the secret ballot will be maintained and even strengthened, while the remote possibility of undeserved penalties will be eliminated.

“It is necessary that both the intention and the provisions of the bill for the taking of a secret ballot should be thoroughly understood. All strikes under the existing legislation are illegal. The law is embodied .in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, in the Labour Disputes’ Investigation Act and in the strike and lockout emergency regulations, and penalties for an infringement are substantial. and even heavy in some instances. “Men who are called out on strike without a ballot, which to be genuine and properly representative must be secret and free from any possibility of pressure, are compelled to be lawbreakers and subject to heavy penalties without being consulted. “This is an intolerable position and the elementary principles of democracy cry out against such a practice. “Fear of being described as disloyal to one’s fellow workers has frequently and hopelessly distorted the actual position and has compelled reluctant acquiescence in stupid strike action harmful to those immediately involved, and to the country as a whole. Deplorable State of Affairs

“The bill proposes that this deplorable state of- affairs should cease and that before men are forced into the position of becoming law-breakers they should at least be consulted and given an opportunity of giving or withholding their consent to becoming parties to law-breaking. . “The proposal of the Government Is to ensure that all industrial workers should have this opportunity, surely an elementary numan right established in law beyond dispute. “This is what the bill will provide. It is just, it is democratic, it is common sense. I believe that the bill, which provides for a secret ballot being embodied in all union rules, has the support of the vast majority of trade unionists, very many of whom have a similar condition in their own rules. “Only those who are determined enemies of industrial as well as social and economic democracy will be in opposition to the Government’s proposals for establishing the right of an industrial worker to exercise a vote where his own employment and income, the welfare and happiness of his home and family, are concerned.”