ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10221, 15 December 1893, Page 2

ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION.

TO THS EDITOR.

Sib, —Oue is euaiueilocl to acknowledge from the correspondence appearing ia the columns of your valuable paper teat the Canterbury Employers’ Association has eingifiavly failed to continue the good work so “nobly” begun, in tbo direction or settling differences beiwfea employer and ciuulvycd by conciliatory moans. I he Fed orated Tailerc.-sca and Prossers,’ Union furnish an example of the true position. For yta:a they have straggled for this iirl-Uraaon and conciliation (in ono direction or another) and suffered wrongs taat arc a disgrace and » Bligu?a_upon the good name of tlu colony- ’iliay rava proved this oad experience, that the moral iljht us roprecViited j-7 an

optional arbitration is useless. Without the legal viowc- to enforce it, the right to arbi-mio »=s -.ita them alt tho time, but without a la v to enforce it it is a wrong without » remedy. Are the minds of employers iu the clothing trade so concentrated in the conservation and aggregation of Jo s. d. that the condition, happiness, or even consideration of their employes becomes a question of such little moment as to bo utterly beneath their notice? Or, is the solution to be found in the fact that the settlement effected in the boot-trade by tho Canterbury Employer?.’ Association eventuated in a considerable reduction in prices to the operatives ? The prices paid to the tailoresses are so miserably low that further reduction is impossible, consequently a conference must mean sa advance to* them (the workers). Hence the failure on the part of the Association to bring the parties together. It will be a ssesa of gratification to the tailoxessos to know that their brave efforts are watched and appreciated by their fellow-v/orkc-rs. I would exhort them to take courage ia the fact “ that fcbo darkest hour is tho hour before the dawn;” and the tardy justice go long denied them will be moulded into a law that must for ever prevent a repetition of their past sufferings. The hand-writing is on the wall; let every wage-earner put his and her shoulder to the wheel, until cur united efforts shall rid New Zealand of the leprosy of sweating prices, sweating shops and sweating employers. Tho mills of the gods may “ grind slow,” but exceeding fiuo and sure.—l am, &c., SYMPATHISER.