WAGES AND STRIKES

Grey River Argus, 17 February 1945, Page 6

WAGES AND STRIKES

Industrial unrest in New Zealand has reached serious proportions. Prolonged strain of war-time economic conditions is having its inevitable effect upon the working people. The struggle to make ends meet, to make pre-war wages buy the means of life at war-time prices, has become intolerable to the lower-paid section of workers.

It is quite true the (lovernment has succeeded in more or less stabilising prices of many staple commodities so that the Price Index used to measure movement in the cost of living shows but a small upward variation; but this does not by any means tell, the whole story. The Price Index does not. for instance, cover the expenditure of war-time taxation of 1/6 in the £ on wages; it does not lake into account the fact that numbers of articles contained in the Index are not always, (and sometimes very rarely), procurable, but must be replaced by higher-priced substitutes. Owing to t,his latter circumstance it is impossible to measure the real and considerable increase in the cost of living- We do know, however, that large numbers of working-class families are existing in conditions of extreme difficulty. And so workers are striking for higher wages, for an easing of their economic burdens.

It is known that the Government' realises the necessity for an immediate and general increase in wages. Industrial peace cannot possibly be maintained unless such . relief is granted. The difficulty of the Government is to make a wage increase effective by preventing a general rise in prices which would cancel out the increase in wages and leave the position for the workers as it was. This difficulty, unfortunately, cannot be completely overcome. With a general wage increase will come an inevitable rise in prices—not necessarily sufficient, however, to wipe out the wage increase. A lot will depend upon the way the wage-increase is applied. The need of the lowest-paid section of workers is the greatest- They can be given, and should he given, the greatest proportionate wage-increase. Nor must be forgotten the dependents of the men of the armed forces; nor the lowest-inconied section! of all -—the pensioners.

A lot will also depend on the Price Tribunal whose erations have for some time come in for a lot (if public crith cism. If this criticism is justified—and it is the Government’s business to know whether or not it is—an overhaul is called for. Rises in prices following a larger national wages bill must be more carefullv controlled than ever before.

With it all we must not forget this is wartime. The future of the nation is at stake. Sacrifices must be made by the people at home, and not alone by the men overseas. Those who are best able to bear the burden of the nation’s war effort—and this applies to wage-workers as well, as profit-takers —must shoulder that burden in order that tin 1 lot of the less fortunate is made easier-

Only when victory over Fascism has been won can the industrial movement re-emhark on its fundamental policy of securing, by all the means available, an ever-increasing share of the wealth its members create... To-day the paramount need is for increased and uninterrupted production of essential goods and services in order that peace with victory is not delayed a day longer than need be.