THE ARBITRATION ACT

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6177, 8 April 1907, Page 5

THE ARBITRATION ACT

AN IMPORTANT REPORT CONCLUSIONS OF A LABOUR COMMITTEE. ADVICE TO COUNCILS AND UNIONS. In last Saturday's “Times" appeared an unnecessarily brief telegraphed summary of a report presented to the Trades and Labour Conference at Dunedin bv a committee appointed to consider t\ie principles and working of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. no are now able to quote from tho “ Otago Daily Times" the full report. The committee reported as follows ; “ That the Councils and unions of the colony be advised : “ (1) That the Act is an application of the law of status, whereby tho terms and conditions of employment for workers are fixed by bodies external the workers' own organisations, and independent of the final consent of the workers directly concerned, and, therefore, if this Act is to remain in operation it is absolutely necessary that the workers should be represented in Parliament by direct Labour representatives, who will see that the Act is administered justly and equitably. “ (2) That whereas the Act as first framed was for the purposes of (a) encouraging the formation of industrial unions; (b) making provision for tho voluntary settlement of disputes per medium of the Boards and Court; and (c) leaving tho unions freedom of action before and after a dispute was adjudicated upon : The Act, we find, has never been properly framed to protect unionists and encourage the formation of unions. The voluntary principle has boon more or less abased, and the compulsory and rigid’features of legal procedure" more and more exalted until the , dangerous element of writs of qttach- ! incut is required to compel adherence to the law. With respect to the effects of tho Act on the trades union movement, it should be recognised that whilst some new unions wore formed when the Act came into existence, the proportion of unionists in the colony to wage-earners is lower now than in some other countries where there is no Act in existence, and we are face to face with the serious position that whereas the returns of 1905 gave the total number of registered unionists as 30,000, tho last year the number had dropned to 29,000. Another effect of the Act is that the interests of unions are isolated, by the necessity of each individual union having to settle its own dispute. To meet these positions the Councils and unions of the colony must roly more on their own initiative towards increasing the numerical strength and develop tho spirit of sympathetic unionism by means of ever closer combination of tho unions and Councils of labour. " (3) That whereas it is most*, difficult to say -whether any increased remuneration received by the wage-earning class or improved conditions of employment, is due to the very active state of trade and "eneral conditions of prosperity prevailing, wo are confident that of the enormous increase of wealth produced, tho workers have received an entirely inadequate proportion, and in the case of unions of workers which have received awards from the Arbitration Court during the past seven years wo find that these unions have every time been refused any advances, although the purchasing power of the workers' earnings has been continuously decreased, and is still on the decline; this being owing to the general increase in the price of commodities and rents. There seems little likelihood of the workers receiving any future increase of wages from tho Arbitration Court. The workers in general must recognise that whilst their proportion of tho profits of an industry is fixed by the operations of the Act, and scarcely ever rises above tho rates fixed, the minimum rate of pay being in general actually the maximum rate, the Act makes no provision on the lines of limiting the proportion of profits which shall go to tho employers. Therefore the Act is no preventive against the continuous accumulation of wealth In a few hands, which is the cause of the economic evils that are crushing the workers of our colony the same as those of other lands. Tho Conciliation and Arbitration Act is not even a partial solution of the economic and social troubles of the wage-earning class, nor can it ever touch the matter unless the Court is, given power to adjudicate on the matters of interest, rent, and profit at the same time that it deals with that of wages. “In conclusion, we recommend that for the present the councils and unions be advised to adhere to the Act with the hope of its being improved upon, so that a working modus vivendi sustained until tho economic basis ot society is altered. Instead of relying on the Act as the principal means of economic emancipation,, wo strongly urge that the workers should seek relief along the lines of direct representation in ■parliament and on local councils of the colonv, and gradual socialisation or the industries of our country." •Mr McLaren said the workers had often been twitted by the press regarding their attitude, and he wished to sav • that as far as ' the Labour leaders were concerned they were not afraid to speak out. Perhaps they spoke too much sometimes. However, in the instance of the recent turmoil, it would be recognised that the labour leaders knew when to preserve silence cs well. They knew when to clcse down and put on their thinking caps. Tho speaker commented on the fact that tho Act had been amended during the last ten years or more in directions that were largely against the interests of the workers. This was not justified in thq face of the abasement or the conciliation principle,, and they felt they were right in occasionally feeling and voicing their resentment Though they desired peace, yet they were sufficiently free men to say they would have justice as well, And if they could not get justice by moans of a lawful process they would use every endeavour to alter that law, and irrespective of the censures and sneers they would raise their voices ©a that the law might met© out justice to the body of the people. He considered that the submitted document was a fair statement of tho view of the trades unionist® of the country. It was a just ■statement. Much of the legislation affecting the Act by way of amendments had been rather against their intercede. They did not regard the Act as being everything to them. —(Applause). W hen tho conference met on Saturday tho report • was unanimously adopted. The incoming executive was instructed to send to the president of the Staffordshire Boot .Operatives* Union a copy of the report as an indication of tho views of tho New Zealand Conference with regard to the Arbitration Act and compulsory State arbitration.

AUSTRALIANS AND THE STRIKE. THE MINISTER OF LABOUR INTERVIEWED. TEESS ASSOCIATION. CHRISTCHURCH, April 6. The Minister of Labour does not feel inclined to recede from the position he has taken up in regard to the part played bv the Australians in the recent slaughtermen’s dispute, in spite of the heavy condemnation launched against him'by the Trades Council Conference in Dunedin. Ho was speaking to r reporter in Christchurch this morning, and when the subject was brought up, he said that he had nothing much to add to what he had stated in Dunedin! “ But I still maintain that Australians were there. As soon as we heard of the strike in Wellington in'the morning the inspector was sent out. He interviewed the men, pointed out the position to them, and advised them to go on with their work. They refused. They told him that they had struck in Victoria

last year, and had gained n rise: that they had struck in New South Wales, and had gained a rise; that they would have it hero; that they did not rare about our laws or for the Arbitration Court, as they would be in Australia before tho Court could roach them. 1 had reliable information when 1 made the statement that two or three Tasmanians were amongst the leaders at Smithfield. .

“I maintain that both Dr Findlay and myself were justified in observing that the Australians were at the bottom of the trouble. As far as 1 am personally concerned I had done with the matter after the law was upheld, and I would have said no more on the subject but for the resolution passed .by tho conference. _ I may add, however, that a peculiar thing which strengthens my opinion has been brought under my notice. Three men, who were born and brought up in the vicinity of Dunedin, who wore taught their trade as slaughtermen at tho Bumside works, and who are admitted to be first-class men, were sent ux> by the company from Burnside to Smithfield to meet the" requirements for more butchers at tho latter place. When these southern butchers arrived, the men at the Smithfield works absolutely refused to work with them on the ground that they wont back to work too soon, thereby helping to defeat tho , men's demands. The butchers had Bo return to Dunedin. They did not start work at Smithfield at all."

Mr Millar was asked if he thought that the slaughtermen's strikes in the meat freezing centres of the colony had affected the principle of the Arbitration Act. “No," he said. “ Tho principle has not suffered As far as my experience goes—and I have met many of the leading trades unionists in the colony—there is almost a unanimous consensus of opinion that the Act is a good one. The unionists have no desire whatever to see-anything done that would in any way injure it. The complaint throughout the length and breadth of the colony is that owing to the inability of the Court to deal promptly with disputes a great deal of unnecessary friction has arisen, and a. feeling has grown up that the usefulness of the Court is impaired to such .an extent as to be of little service to the unions. That is tho only complaint I hear at the present time. It is admitted by everybody that something will have to be done-to provide greater facilities for disputes being settled as Boon as practicable after they arise."