INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19917, 10 April 1928, Page 7

INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

PROBLEMS IN AUSTRALIA* r~ ARBITRATION CONDEMNED. ■. - ' ■ COMPLAINTS BY EMPLOYERS. J; • ' x •• V; " . / .v..y ' [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, March 29. Australia's industrial problems are helping to fill the newspapers. This is not unusual, but the difficulties now seem to be more pronounced than ever. With the refusal o£ the great Labour organisations to participate in the Prime Minister's so-called peace conference the situation seems to have gone from, bad to worse, and it is foared in some quarters ' that sooner or later the wrangling will give place to open warfare. Employers are clearly becoming sickened of antagonising methods and are attacking the Arbitration Court and the system generally. The unions, jealous of the privileges they have gained, are becoming more and more uncompromising. A typical pronouncement from the employers side was made recently by Mr. W. T. Applet on, chairman of directors of Huddart, Parker, Ltd. " I find," he said," that I have been referring to the subject of industrial unrest year by year for the past 15 years, and to the increased costs forced upon the mercantile marine of Australia. Three years ago I expressed a hope that there would be a revision of the Federal law of conciliation and arbitration, even if it were not rescinded. Since then there has been considerable change, but the work of the new court is not yet sufficiently advanced to enable one to express any fully considered opinion, but it is very disturbing to employers, who are bound by the law to obey the Court, to find tfrat the employees may do so when and how they please. " I would have refrained from further comment were the position not so serious. The Navigation Act, the Seamen's Compensation Act, payment of full wages for sick and injured seamen, indulgences of annual holidays, time off, overtime, payments during stop-work meetings, and ' srooke-ohs,' have only built ,up an aristocracy of labour in marine circles, which the Court has hitherto found itself unable to control, and the shipowner's hands have been tied behind his back with no possible opportunity of conducting his affairs with satisfaction to himself or anybody else. System " Doomed to Failure." " While we watch with great interest the result of the amended Arbitration Act, the experience of 24 years leaves the impression from an industrial and an economic standpoint the whole system is doomed to failure. One is also forced to the conclusion that the system lives while it gives. When it ceases to give it will probably cease to exist. Unions openly state that if wages and conditions are not satisfactory to them they will not work peaceably under them; and an official of the Seamen's Union recently stated in the Press that there cotld be no industrial peace until employers agreed voluntarily to give the employees what they saw fit to demand. " Employers, while they are expected to carry on industries to dovelop the country and to find employment for am increasing number of men, are trammelled in every direction by wards aud regulations which take away all control from those who have a life-long practical knowledge of their particular industries. Without this knowledge it is impossible for anyone, however competent or however skilled in dissecting evidence, to measure the merits of a particular claim or the material results if grajfted. The basic wage is determined on fallaciotm promises, and wages are fixed without regard to output. The man on' the land earns what he gets by honest labour, and the results of his efforts must suffice to meet his needs. On the other hand the employer in protected industries paying high wages with burdensome conditions seeks assistance from the tariff board. When that assistance is granted the men seek to participate, ana so the merry round goes on. In Queensland, where the number of unemployed is not less than in other States, and where industrial unrest exists despite the Labour government, the churches are displaying anxiety, and every denomination was represented in a deputation which waited upon the Premier, Mr. McCormack, and made a plea for industrial peace. The deputation claimed to represent ninety per cent, of the people, and that it was the first time that the heads of the various Christian communities in Brisbane had been brought together on a social question. Co-operation of Churches. The churches, it was said, regarded the question of industrial peace as one of great urgency. They believed that unemployment was largely due to industrial strife, with its consequent evil effects on the prosperity of the country. The churches could see no reason why there should not be between employer and employee, not only an agreement governed by law, but goodwill and understanding of each other's rights that would put an end to strikes, and result in permanence of work without uncertainty on either side. They, therefore, gave their wholehearted support to the idea of a conference. The Premier welcomed the co-operation of the churches in establishing goodwill but he had his own opinions about the - situation generally. " The present position in Queensland," he said, is not unsatisfactory because of industrial unrest. There has not been any great industrial difficulty for quite a time. Unemployment has been caused by several factors that to me ave obvious. It is apparent that Australia is importing too many things, much more than we are exporting, and the difference has to be made up some way. In other words, we are living beyond our means. We are bringing from the United States millions worth of motors, accessories and oil, whereas America buys very little from Australia. In addition, these imported cars are used in opposition to the railways. " The remedy lies with" the Commonwealth by making the tariff s6 high as to encourage overseas manufacturers to establish themselves here. . . It is for the employers and the employees to meet and thrash out the question. Difficulty arises when party leaders call a conference. There is always a suspicion in the minds of those concerned' with it that the conferonco might be used for politic.il purposes."