THE ARBITRATION ACT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3441, 10 March 1932, Page 4

THE ARBITRATION ACT.

The proposed amendment to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act has been roundly condemned by the Labour Party in the House, but from an unbiased point of view the changes outlined mean a genuine attempt to deal with a difficult situation. A large section of employers have no desire to see the Act abolished. If Labour is bought and sold on a free market it would lead to many disorganisations in business through price cutting and the ruin of fairly conducted concerns. Sweated labour, such as existed thirty years ago, is of little use to any community, and can only lead to hardships and illfeeling. At the same time the Act as present constituted is too rigid in its working. Some elasticity is required, and the proposed amendments provide for this. In these times of stress there are certain industries which cannot pay the wages set down by the Arbitration Court. An example of this is the flaxmilling industry, where it was a choice of closing the industry altogether or the men accepting a lower wage than that set down by the Court. Commonsense prevailed on that occasion, and the men, with the sanction of the Arbitration Court, agreed to a lower rate af pay. It was a case of doing this or no work at all, and the same principle applies to other industries during the present economic crisis. Under the proposed amendment to the Act, the Court will decide what industries should be exempt from the Act, and the onus of proving that such industries cannot pay the standard wage will be on the employers. It is a mistaken idea that employers ( as a class wish to cut down wages

and lengthen the hours of work. At the same time it is a bigger mistake to think that all industries are in a position to pay an artificial standard of wages, especially at a time when most business concerns are finding it difficult to make ends meet. It ca’nnot be said that the Conciliation and Arbitration Act has brought about the ideal social conditions that were hoped for. Instead of creating a better feeling between employers and employees it converted capital and labour into two sections of bargaining litigants, each aiming to get the most from the other. The Act is badly in ’need of an overhaul, and the changes now proposed are not so very drastic, especially if they rnean the provision of further employment for some of the tens of thousands out of work.