THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21627, 23 April 1932, Page 20

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES By J. T. Paul. Happiness is a see-saw movement between trust and distrust of impulses, a worship of instinct to-day and reason to-morrow, a denunciation of the body to-day and a glorification of it to-mor-row, a succession of new gospels which in- turn prove illusory, because their teachers have got hold of a half-truth or a fraction and mistaken it for the whole. We are in one of those fractional stages now, and it is a feature of these oscillations that leaders who initiate the protests against accepted canons, poets, essayists, and novelists, have generally moved from their position by the time tlie new gospel has percolated to the muss of the people.' —Mr Baldwin. PROHIBITION AGAINST PUBLIC SERVANTS. The Assistant Chief Secretary in the Victorian Labour Government (Mr Kieruan) has announced that it is his intention to enforce the provision of the Public Service Act which prohibits members of the service from accepting outside employment in their spare time as musicians, artists, or in other capacities. He also has requested the Federal Government'to take similar action with respect to Commonwealth public servants in the. State. AMALGAMATION SCHEME REJECTED.' The'scheme to amalgamate 12 British building trade unions into one has been rejected. The project had been under discussion for some years, and a definite scheme was laid before a special conference of the unions in October, 1930, aud was adopted for submission to a ballot. In practice there is already close cooperation between the unions, most of which (with three others which did not proceed with a ballot) are affiliated to the National Federation of Building Trades Operatives. That co-operation will continue. •

Six of the unions voting showed majorities for the scheme, but in five of the six the number of votes recorded was less than the 60 per cent, required by law. The total votes recorded for amalgamation were 39,053, while the votes against amalgamation numbered 69,612. SWEATING AGENTS. ' . The members of the Anti-Sweating League of Victoria, who are mostly men and women not directly associated with the Labour movement, continue (says a •Labour paper) to do good work in the direction of exposing many of the worst cases of sweating in connection with the clothing trades. At the last meeting of the league it was pointed out that, since the last award of the Arbitration Court, thct> were springing up in tlie clothing trade a number of agents who were obtaining orders for manufactured articles, and getting the work clone by contract at sweating rates. These agents were a law unto themselves, having sprung up after the Arbitration Court had made its award for the industry. They were not cited in the award, and the court had no control over them. The league has decided to take action to assist the Clothing Trades Union'in the matter. AMERICAN TEACHERS OUT OF WORK. According to tlie statistics recently published by the Ministry of the Interior (Department of Education), tlie concentration of rural schools has now reached such dimensions that every day 2,000,000 arc conveyed to centralised schools (which number about 17,000) by 50,000 school omnibuses. During the last 10 years more than 1000 centralised' schools have been opened per year. From 1918 to 1928 the number of cue-class schools has been reduced from 195.000 to 153,000, while the number of centralised schools has risen from 5000 to 17.000. Obviously, this concentration of schools lias a lot to do with tlie unemployment which to-day is hitting tens of thousands of American teachers. LABOUR BREAKAWAYS. A good deal of discussion has taken place in Victorian Labour circles (says the Worker) with respect to the threatened “ breakaway ” in Sydney. The consensus of opinion seems to be that “breakaways ” arc being engineered by superficial stunters posing as “ dinkum ” Communists or as competent leaders of the working class.' There seems’ to he a good Real in the contention. Communists Who arg. concerned may be interested to know, if they do not already know, that “ breakaways ” are 'contrary to tlie policy as laid down by Marx, Engels, and Lenin. i Marx and Engels said in the Communist manifesto that—

The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to other workingclass parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a

whole. Lenin said in “Left Communism,’' when referring to Communists who form separate groups and oppose other Labodr groups:— This is an unpardonable blunder, which results in Communists rendering the greatest service to the bourgeoise.

SHEARING RATES IN AUSTRALIA. The High Court of Australia has delivered judgment in the appeal, Australian Workers’ Union v. Graziers’ Association of New South Wales, that the Arbitration Court had no authority to make orders reducing wages prescribed by an award of that court, made id September, 1027, The court decided by majority, Justices Rich, Starke, and Dixon, with Justices Evatt and MTiernan dissenting,” that the Arbitration Court had the authority which was contested. The appeal related to a summons, under 21AA of the Arbitration Act, 1004-1930, for the purpose of obtaining a determination of the validity of orders made by Chief Judge Dethridge of the Arbitration Court. The effect of. the orders was to reduce the rates below the minimum of 35 s per 100 sheep claimed by the graziers to 32s 6d per 100. The rate had previously been 41s per 100. , The award expired on November 30, 1931, but was continued in force by section 28 (2) of the Act, The ground upon which the validity of the order of variation was impeached was that no industrial dispute existed in regard to wages, or rates, as low in amount as those which would be prescribed ns the result of the variation if it be valid. The award was made in settlement of an alleged industrial dispute referred into court after failure of a compulsory conference, Mr Justice Rich, in the course of his judgment, said that the High Court adopted the hypothesis that the exchange of sentiments between the parties amounted to an industrial dispute, and on that hypothesis whether, in respect of the period for which the variations were made, thd employers had set a downward limit to the ambit of the dispute about the wages by specifying the amounts involved. His Honor thought their demand made it clear that those specified figures did not set n downward limit to the reduction they desired or any period sufficiently prolonged to reach into that affected by the variations made by the orders which were now under consideration. His Honor, therefore, thought that the variations were valid, and answered the questions accordingly. i Mr Justice Starke said it was argued that the limits, or the range, of the dispute in relation to the shearers’ wage for flock sheep were represented by the sums of 35s and 00s per 100. The Arbitration Court reduced the rate, as already mentioned, to 32s Od, and. according to the argument addressed to the court based on the insurance staffs case, in so doing it acted without authority or jurisdiction. In my opinion, said his Honor, the argument fails, because the employers did not, on the very words of their demgnd, name 35s per 100 for flock sheep as an absolute minimum for the shearers’ wage for sufch sheep, and so limit the controversy, so far as they were concerned, to the question whether that or a greater sum should

he paid; the demand was that sum or such lower rate ns might from time to time’ to the court seem just. It- was suggested that a demand so framed could not constitute an industrial dispute; but even so, the words cannot, without distortion, be treated as expressing the offer of an absolute minimum. In any case, in my opinion, industrial disputes cannot be reduced to the precise terms of offer and acceptance required by the law of contract. I see no reason why a claim for increased or decreased wages, as an Arbitration Court shall think just, should not constitute a teal and genuine industrial dispute. Otherwise, it would follow that the employers’ demand ip this case cannot form the basis of an industrial dispute, and that would leave standing only the employees’ claim for a minimum rate for shearers of 60s per 100 sheep. On that basis, the decisions of this court hold that the controversy or dispute then in issue is Whether that sum or a. lesser sum should be paid. Consequently, IMn my opinion, the questions raised by the summons under section 21AA should all be answered in the affirmative. Mr Justice Divon said he thought that the ambit of the dispute was not exceeded by the orders of variation, the validity Of which was attacked. The questions in the summons should be answered yes.