INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17532, 25 January 1919, Page 12

INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

\ NEWS AND NOTES

: Bx thb Hon. J. T. Path,, M.L.C. ' .THE INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE. itThe conference of industrial federations which will open in Wellington on Tuesday_ has created some public interest, and aMittle newspaper'speculation. The conference is/the outcome of a decision arrived at;in Wellington at the last July conference. . It.was felt then that an attempt should be made to find some common .ground for uniting the national federations, and this is the object of the conference!. At present , the "United Iteration of Labour is virtually the parent body_ by reason of its age andthe strength of its affiliations. ' The Waterside Workers' for instance, is not affiliated with £he Federation of Labour, but ia combined in the Transport Workers' Advisory Board, .with a section of the, rail- . waymen, tramway workers,-'drivers, and ot-bers.- There are other, minor bodies, and the conference will attempt to consolidate organisations in one complete whole/ ; , - A LONG-STANDING- , 'DIS(PIJTE. The Auckland G3S Company and the s . Union composed of its gasworks employees ■•! have long been at variance.- The union en- '•' deavoured bjt /various means to, improve the position of its_ members and ultimately cancelled registration tinder the Arbitration - Act and proceeded under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act. , Those proceed-. ■ ings have' resulted in a larger measure of satisfaction than any^previous^'.effort. ':■. As J outlined ,by "Industrial. -Tramp;''. in the \ Auckland "Star; "in one section the wa-ges i haye been-increased > from £2 14s to £3 5s ] per, week.- The , retort-honse workers have been advanced Is per day, while , '' the la- j bou'rers, r ,who . previously- had, no settled rate, have had their' wages fixed at Is 4£d per hour if or permanent men, and Is 5d per. houT'for casuals. In the. case, of the retcjrt-hoTjse workers, the 'agreement runs side! by side.with the existing award, which expires on August 11, 1919, but as the shilling a day increase is for 12 months, the union.have agreed not to file any application for a new' agreement under the ' Labour Disputes Investigation Act, until ' November, 1919, so long as the existing rates axe continued to be paid by the comPany- '" , EHJHT'HOURS FOR RATLWAYMEN. One of the questions which will be uppermost in the dominion during the present ■ yea*: "will be the question of a uniform eight-hour day for railwaymen. This nrinciple is in operation in America, having been enforced largely through President Wilson's influence. Cortainly there was opposition by some of the big railway companies, but this-was ultimately withdrawn, it being recognised, that serious industrial trouble would certainly follow opposition. Later, in Great' Britain, the . principle was. adopted on the British railways. This was' largely the result of understandings and negotiations conducted by the. Government during the war, and the reform came abonfc largely through the experience gained -wfe&o the railways -wero -under Govennmenfc ccmbrpL In tfc dominion, judging from the .deof the rauwaymen's official organs, C:e:raflway workers will make an effortrto •\yinj lie eight-hoar principle hero.. The A.S:R.S. is of i sticcess, and the locomotive:; branch of the service has kept the .'.question-in tho foTegrcmnd for a considerable time. In view of,the progress made in -the bigger countries it ought not to be. difficult to inaugurate the reform here. LABOUR AND THE IiEUNTCIPAL ELBC/I'IONS. Labour' organisations in variotH centres are preparing to contest seats for the various bodies at the forthcoming elections in Apiil oext. In some centres nominations are-, eh-eady being asked for. So far as Dumedin is'-concerned no definite decision has" been arrived at,;, ihousrh the qncstion will be finally settled very early. I The 'Labour party in Cbrstehurch, with the tdp of ■ somo other councillors, and a Citizens' Committee,- are endeavxmring to prevent fhe reactiotianes rescinding proportional representation. At the last municipal, elections Tinder this system Labour and other groups obtained their fan- measnrc- of representation on. the City Coirocu, Labour wmrrmg fewer seats than it previously held ' tinder fbe bEE: system. • Now, humjwt, the jnejoTTty of file Cfty Conncil ere moving to rescind prbpoTfianal ropreaenbcSon and ■ revert' to : the old system. '_ Or. D. G. Sulli-

vap, who conducts the Labour column in CEristchurch Sun, comments on the reactionary move in these terms:— ■."It is just possible, of course, that this little scheme might prove a boomerang to Cr Ftesher and bia [Cr Flesher ia leading the "antis."] It is possible that Labour might secure a majority of the votes at the next election, in which case Labour would—under Or Flesher's scheme—get all the seats. For instance, at tile double dissolution of the Australian Federal Parliament in 1916, 36 Australian senators faced -the public for re-election. Labour secured 53 per cent, of the. total votes polled,- and Anti-Labour 47 per cent. The nation was fairly evenly divided between the supporters of Labour and its opponents. Yet of the 36 seats in the Senate, Laboursecured 31 and Anti-Labour 5. The :Anti-Labour voters, amounting to nearly half the population of the States, were almost eliminated from the Australian Senate. In May, 1917, there was a turnover of,; about 8£ per cent of votes— 2,116,789\ electors registered their votes; 1,177,754-' voted for Nationalist candidates and 939,035 for the official Labour candidates.' In other words, 55£ per cent, voted Nationalist and 44£ per cent. Labour. Yet Labour did not secure a single eeat. , "Will anybody say that , the system which produces such an anomaly is a just system of election? Yet it is the system to which the opponents, of proportional representation on the" Christchurch City Council wish to revert." "'■■■■■ ■ . ■'.'

THE FUTURE -OF 'INDUSTRY. The declaration of the National Executive of the United Federation of Labour on the future of industry proves to 'be an eightpage pamphlet. It is a much mqre comprehensive document than one would have gathered from .the press summaries. One interesting portion of the pamphlet discusses the subject of this note. After pointing out that employers and employed are virtually hi separate armed camps under the present system and that.consequently "great powers of leadership and; willing service ar£ diverted from constructive work into the sterile fields of. largely, useless controversy," the report says: '.. ;' .".1. , ■'• ■■ ' . ' ,

Both employers.' and employed are the victims of a system that has organised industry on the fines of a tug-of-war and permeated the. whole national life with sectional habits of thought and outlook. Wherever coercion has'; been applied, by one side against the . other,... it has called forth a resistance that otherwise might never have arisen, and has led to much sterility and waste. ' i

Whilst the total' elimination of such conflict may be quite impossible, as we believo it k so long as the wages system lasts, the hciie of tho inimediate future undoubtedly lies in the intimate and continuous associat.jn of both management and labour, for the purpose of adjusting differences, and for the purpose of promoting the progressive improvement of their national service, from which.-alone the, national prosperity can be derived.

The scheme, briefly outlined above, strikes out a new line of administrative devolution —namely, devolution by industry, and it represents justice- and self-government applied to industry, and stands put clearly against the rival industrial systems of which so much is heard. And it will have this important result. Hitherto, industrial legislation has been imposed from without, and has Encountered strenuous opposition on the part of organisations concerned to defend what they held to be their interests.

Isow thp process would be reversed. The industry itself would first agree to its conditions through the aflvising councils, and would then submit them to the National Industrial Council for approval and sanction. In this way Parliament would bo relieved of an immense mass of highly controversial work_ and set free for the larger national and. international problems. Nor is this the only advantage that would anso. The spectacle of organised management and labour uniting their constructive energies upon a great programme of reorganisation and advance, might transform tho whole atmosphere of our industrial life. - The increase in efficiency and output conseqioent upon the substitution of constructive co-operation for the old antagonism and suspicion would be very great. But the change would brinjr even greater benefits than thi3. It would raiso the whole status of industry, and fr.ve to its members a new pndp m their work as. a splendid public service. It would tend to break down the barriers _ that have, so Ion? confined and impoverished the national life and would promote tho development of a real team spirit. '