THE H.B. TRIBUNE MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1930 A NOTABLE AWARD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 13, 29 December 1930, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1930 A NOTABLE AWARD

The findings of the Industrial Arbitration Court as embodied in the award made last week on the application of the Flaxmillers’ Association is worthy of something more than passing notice, for it is based mainly on a consideration that has not hitherto entered very largely into decisions of the kind. Those who have been taking any interest in the movements that have led up to these proceedings will remember that, owing tq the long sustained low prices to which the products of pur flaxmills fallen, the employers found it impossible to carry on and pay the wages that had been set by the previous award. As the result of quite friendly discussions with the employees the latter recognised the position that had arisen and virtually agreed that the only alternative to the total collapse of the industry was to accept, for a time at any rate, wages on a much reduced scale In order that the understanding thus reached should l le made operative it was, of course, neces-

sary to secure a variation of the current award. But when the employees 7 proposed to set about obtaining this, the union executives raised the objection that they were not “financial’ and therefore could not be allowed to initiate the necessary steps. After some further delays, it was arranged that the owners should approach the Court, and the result is seen in the award that has now been enunciated by Mr. Justice Frazer. In delivering his decision the presidipg judge has felt it incumbent upon him to enter into a very full explanation of the grounds upon which he has seen fit to give legal effect to the understanding that had been arrived at between the owners and the men. Of these the determining factor was found in the fully established fact that, under the existing scale of wages and existing market conditions, it was quite out of the question that operations should be continued excepting at such heavy loss as the employers could not be justly asked to bear. It was a case either of seriously reduced wages or shutting down for an indefinite period, and thus adding more or less permanently to the already big army of unemployed. The Court accepted the lesser evil and made the award as to which both employers and employees were in mutual agreement.

We fancy that most people will concur in the conclusions that have been reached and will have nothing but admiration for the men who preferred to work for a lower wage rather than be driven to ths possibility of seeking and accepting "sustenance” under the Unemployment Act. At the same time, it is as well to note also that the judge expressed himself as convinced from the facts and figures laid before him that, even under the reduced scale of wages, the owners would be running the mills at substantial loss. It will thus be seen that there has been something of mutual sacrifice made inorder that the industry may have a chance of being preserved for both employers and employees over the period of low prices that has already held for two years, involving the owners in irretrievable losses while the men were drawing full wages. The new award it is to be observed is of an entirely temporary character, it being open lor either party to apply for a variation at the end of six months, and there is unhappily no great prospect of any marked improvement within less than that time in the prjees of the fibre. In the meantime, however, the owners will be enabled to keep their products before their customary buyers at prices which may compete successfully with the substitutes from elsewhere which they have been tending to favour as costing less. Failing this, it can be easily understood that New Zealand fibre would fall entirely out of demand and markets prove practically irrecoverable. The fight for the preservation of those markets will now be one in which both owners and men will be jointly and vitally interested. We •nay only trust that it will not be so very long before success will crown the courage with which both have faced a most unfortunate situation.

Nor is it to be lost sight of that in the arrangement that has been made and the example it provides the public are very deeply interested. Had it been that the men had stood out for wages under the old award, there would probably have been nothing for it but that they would either have for some lengthy time themselves joined the ranks of the unemployed or have pushed others into them. This would more than likely have meant some hundreds more making calls upon the sustenance fund and thus creating an added burden upon other industries, some of them already hard put to 4 to make ends meet. It may be, as the the workers’ representative on the arbitration bench contends, that where married men with families are concerned the wages to be drawn will not be so very much greater than the sustenance allowance. But they will at least have the satisfaction of feeling that they are earning what they get. Thus they will not only be relieving the public levy on which so many demands threaten to be made, but will also be helping to provide exports which, evep if not profitable, will still bring in something t j the national revenue and so assist to general economic restoration.