OTAGO LABOUR COUNCIL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20323, 3 February 1928, Page 10

OTAGO LABOUR COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Otago Labour Council was held in the Trades Hall last evening, when the president Mr A. C. Maclaren presided over a large attendance of delegates. The greater portion of the evening was spent in discussing the policy to be adopted bv the council in regard to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act at the conference "f employers and workers to be held on March 27. Ultimately the council expressed the following opinion regarding the Act: The object of the Industrial, Conciliation and Arbitration Act is to bring into operation machinery for the peaceful settlement of industrial disputes. In this it may be said to have been successful. The Act, therefore, having brought about the smooth running of industry, has made a valuable contribution to the welfare of the Dominion. > By fixing a standard price for labour it has assisted the employers to regulate the prices of tlieir commodities, and it did much to re move the sweating evil from our midst. It has not given complete satisfaction (o workers, as awards of the court under me Act have not kept pace with the increased production of labour by the irr provements in machinerv now generally adopted. We are of opinion that the court should depart from the 1914 standard and adopt the standard of 1928. If this were done it-would mean increased wages and fewer hours of work for those employed in industry, and it would materially assist in banishing unemployment.

The council decided to be represented by one delegate at the open conference to be hold at Wellington on February 9 under the auspices of the New Zealand Alliance of Labour and the Trades and Labour Councils’ Federation, the secretary, Mr J. Robinson, being selected as delegate. It was reported that men in permanent positions were engaging in outside employment after hours. One such case had been investigated by the council and (he employer of these men had undertaken to dismiss them. The council deprecated the practice, and expressed the feeling that such a practice should not be permitted at a time when unemployment was so acute, end hoped that it would not occur again.