SUSPICION

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1930, Page 3

SUSPICION

Chief jWge -iifeiTiridße, a statement in ThrFtHtofbl Arbitration 'Court, has called attention to what he has called fantastic ideas’..,,, among wage-earners that employers are making tremendous profits; and lie has suggested that much of this, .suspicion i,s being caused by the employers themselves. In one case that,- came under liis notice recently the company could have shown that it was actually losing money, but it refused to take the union into its .'confidence, Unfortunately there is a great deal of >uth in the view . advanced by the Chief Judge. Too ‘-many cniplovers, struggling with the immense difficulties of. management and costs, look- upon organised labour ao incradicallyaimeasonahle, and refuse to take its representatives into their confidence. . The unions, in such circumstances, are prone to develop' ‘fantastic ideas’ about the profits that are being, made, and s'» the. employers and employees , become drawn into pa relied and \ dpp o< -'i.ug camps, each suspicious of the. other. Tliat attitude of non-co-operation is responsible f°r much of the real, trouble that Australia is confronting: - U employers- and employees would / realise that both are confronted by the common danger, and would undertake to co-operate in meeting it, many serious difficulties would be overcome. So long as the unions believe that big profits are being made they will naturally resist any reduction in wages. If two rears ago, the employers and employees had honestly faced the position, each helping the other, the economic depression could have been bridged with very little hardship. To that extent the troubles of to-day have been accentuated bv this very suspicion to which the Chief, Judge has called attention. -—Courier, Brisbane.