Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JAN. 3, 1931. DISSERVICE TO EMPLOYEES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 28, 3 January 1931, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JAN. 3, 1931. DISSERVICE TO EMPLOYEES.

The Government of New South Wales has very little regard for the welfare of employers and employees alike in deciding to reintroduce a forty-four hours’ week with pay for forty-eight hours, and to abolish the rationing of work by private firms. A very strong case against the Industrial Arbitration (Eight Hours) Further Amendment Act, passed recently by the Lang Government, was presented by a deputation of employers to the Minister for Labour and Industry (Mr Baddeley). Mr C. M. McDonald, president of the Employers’ Federation, spoke on behalf of the latter and its fifty-one affiliated associations, the Chamber of Manufacturers with its twenty-five sections, and the Chamber of Commerce with forty sections, while Mr G. Wright spoke for the Retail Traders’ Association of which he is the president. In asking that the amended Act, which deletes the provisions regarding rationing of w<jrk in private industry, should be reconsidered so as to permit the system to be continued, Mr Wright emphasised that the legislation authorising rationing was not provided at the request of the retail traders, but, he added frankly, the system had worked out to the advantage of thousands of employees. Mr Wright pointed out that conditions in industry had now become so acute that had it not been for the fact that rationing permitted the to be spread, and the work and wages available more widely distributed, there would have been no alternative to drastic retrenchment of employees. “We are sincere,” he told the Minister, “when we say we cannot avoid serious additions to the unemployed if rationing is to go.” He used the compelling argument of the difficulty firms were experiencing in balancing their budgets, and emphatically declared that they could not maintain their existing staffs with a forty-four hour -week, and rationing abolished. Even 'with the retention of the system, he pointed out, a reduction in the number of hands employed might become imperative, unless there was a marked improvement in trading conditions. Another point the deputation stressed was that many employees had themselves requested the employers to urge the retention of the-system. This is evidence of realisation of the fact that even a small wage is better than none at all. Mr Wright stated that putting the Act into force meant the loss of work to between 5000 and 6000 employees in the retail trades, and Mr McDonald, for the Employers’ Federation, estimated that 20,000 other employees would lose their employment, a total of 26,000.

In his reply, the Minister spoke very vaguely of employees having to “sit around the whole day

waiting for their two hours’ work.” From the tenor of his remarks it would appear that the Government had been moved to pass its legislation because of such complaints. “We are here,” he said, “to help the employees and to do everything possible to keep industry going. It is not the intention of the Government to place any obstacle in the way.” Viewed in the light of the Government’s decision how to abolish rationing and to reintroduce the forty-four hours’ week, the Minister’s statements are but empty words. He and other members of the Cabinet are ignoring the obvious fact that there can only be a certain amount of money for wages, and if this is insufficient to provide employees with the wages provided by law then they must be reduced in number until the exact figure is reached. A reduction of hours to forty-four each week adds greatly to the burden of industrial enterprise in New South Wales, but ivliat does the Lang Government care? They are pious frauds in voicing their solicitations for the employers’ welfare. “If I knew definitely,” said Mr Baddeley to the deputation, “that an Act of Parliament would throw 20,000 employees out of work I would be an ass to deal with it.” Having used the latter expression, Mr Baddeley must not complain now that the employers’ predictions are coming true if it is applied to himself and other members of the Cabinet. - i