A LIMITED WAR EFFORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23719, 27 July 1940, Page 15

A LIMITED WAR EFFORT

Sir.—ln a letter of July 23, under the above heading, your correspondent J. Johnstone makes an unjustifiable attack on trade unions, and in doing so draws somewhat heavily 011 his imagination. Mr. .Johnstone should know that in the present time of crisis machinery is provided for a variation of the rule of the shorter working week when and where required, and scores of instances could be cited o! the application of this machinery. In times of changing circumstances trade disputes arc not uncommon—as witness the miners' dispute in Wales and the engineers' dispute on the Clyde during the last war. Both of these disputes were settled by commissions—in favour of the unions. Each had a good case. That there will be trade disputes during the present war is not at all unlikely. That such disputes will not be quickly and equitably settled is _ most unlikely. Mr. Johnstone's pen picture of trade, unions "holding up the vital work of the community and paralysing our war effort" is born of febrile illusions. In the last war. minor disputes notwithstanding, trade unions throughout the Empire pulled their weight. In this war they are doing no less. J.C.