THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22741, 29 November 1935, Page 3

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES

By J. T. Paul.

Any man may bo in Rood spirits and pood temper when he's well dressed. There ain't much credit in that. If I was very ragged and very jolly, then I should begin to feel I'd gained a point. — < Martin Chuzzlewit." THE LABOUR VICTORY. For the first time in the history of New Zealand the Labour Party will become responsible for the government of the country- It cannot he regarded in any sense as an accidental victory unless the obvious unpopularity of the Government could be accounted in that category. The verdict is as decisive as any can be under the existing electoral system and much more so than at most elections held under similar circumstances. For Labour the fight for power has been long and arduous and it is. not generally recognised that the foundation of Labour independence in politics was laid more than 30 years ago. Labour-in-politics had won isolated victories prior to that, but they were due in large part to close co-opera-tion with the Liberal Party. As the policy of independence in politics grew the strength of the Liberal Party declined, and when that party changed its name and later became merged in the National Party and the Government the electors were faced with two alternatives. It may be suggested that the Democrat Party offered o third alternative, but the electors did not regard its intrusion in that light. The choice of Labour by the electors has been most decisive, and the question of a mandate cannot be questioned. Included in the successful party are men who have had a long association with it as well as with active political life, and their experience will be a valuable asset in this hour of triumph. The selection of Labour has stimulated interest in politics and it has also created a feeling of hopeful anticipation in the minds of thousands of the party's supporters. Congratulatory messages have deluged the successful party and its members, and well-wishers of the Dominion hope that its advent to power will increase its prosperity.

WAGES IN ELECTRICAL TRADE. The same difference of one penny an hour between the wages offered by the employers and those demanded by the employees caused another deadlock in the conciliation proceedings in the electrical engineering trade at Christclmrch on Monday morning, when the council resumed after an adjournment of one month. Mr D, I. Macdonald, the employers assessor, said that the increase fjrojn Is IOJd to 2e an hour was equivalent to a rise of about 7 per cent., and that the employees' demands were for a rise of 11 per cent. The new standard which came into force at Dunedin on July 12 was for a wage of 2s an hour, while in Auckland and Wellington the wages were Is lid. The proceedings had been adjourned for a month to enable the parties to discuss the proposals of the other side, and when the proceedings opened on Monday both Mr G. T. Thurston, the employees' assessor, and Mr Macdonald said that their sides were not prepared to make anv further offers.

When Mr Thurston claimed that the workers in Canterbury had been receiving lees than those in any other centra in the Dominion, Mr Macdonalcl said that if proceedings had been started earlier the employers might have been willing to raise the wage to Is lid an hour. To demand a rise of 2sd an hour, which was eauivalent to 11 per cent., was ridiculous. There was no longer any chance of a boom in the trade in Canterbury, as all the province was reticulated quite recently and there was very little repair work that needed to be done. Many firms had been paying their wages out of their capital, and a rise of another penny ( in the wajes would bite still further into that reserve capital. Each side then retired to discuss the position in private, nnd on resuming the conference the assessors said that the position was just the same. "The demand for 2s Id is apparently meant for one thine only, and that is to do away with the award. The employers simply cannot afford to pay more than 2s an hour, and often they cannot afford to' do that," said Mr Macdonald. "If your union expects them to do that, then it is expecting the impossible; I am p.mazed to think that your controlling body will not accept what amounts to an increase of 7 per cent. There must be some outside factor."

Mr S, Ritchie, the'conciliation commissioner: The position is that an increase of 5s 6d a week is being offered. It is a lonir time since an award has been cancolled, and it is a serious matter. He suggested that the parties should adjourn till the afternoon and discuss the matter further. Mr Macdonald did not ngree with the adjournment, but it was finally decided upon. When the council resumed each side again discussed in private, and Mr Thurston said that the employees were prepared to accept 2s as the minimum wage, provided that the award was made for six months only This was agreed to, and it was decided to leave to the court the date on which the award would come into operation, but that it would terminate on June 30, 1936. The radius from the Square outside which work became suburban was altered from two and a-half miles to_ two miles, but a request that the bicycle allowance -be raised from Is 6d to 2s a week was not agreed to. SEAMEN'S WAGES. Increases in wage rates have been granted in a new award secured by the Seamen's Union in the Federal Arbitration Court at Melbourne. Under the old award able seamen received £l3 2s 6d a month. Under the new award, which operates from December 1, the rate will be lifted to £l4 7s 6d. Boatswains were increased £1 5s to £ls 7s 6d: greasers and firemen, £1 15s to £l6 17s 6d; storekeepers, £1 5a to £l6 7s 6d; trimmers, £1 5s to £l4 7s 6d; firemen-greasers, £1 5g to £l6 17s 6d; oil burners, £1 15s to £l6 17s 6d; wipers, £1 5s to £l4 17s 6d. The overtime rate was reduced from 2s 9d to 2s 6d per hour. Provision is made for compensation for loss of the employees' clothing, but it will not operate until after March 31, 1936. Under the old award 5s a week was deducted from the wages ■ of marine officers, engineers and wireless operators for keep. The court expressed the opinion that the food supplied to officers was not superior to that supplied to ratings, and ruled that there will be no such deduction under the new scale of rates. Many claims made by the union were disallowed. A NEW MOSCOW. Moscow now has its Ten-year Plan. Next January a start will be made to demolish the old, and by January. 1946, the new Moscow should be complete. The new ultra-modern Moscow will be a city of 5,000,000 inhabitants, while its area will be 150,000 acres, instead of the present area of 71,250 acres. Broad boulevards are to be constructed; modern flats erected; there will be six hotels of 4000 rooms each, 50 movie theatres, 500 schools, 17 hospitals, and 19 departmental stores. The famous Red square will be doubled in size, and a six-mile zone of forests and parks will surround the city. The banks of the rivers are to be lined with granite over their whole courses through the city. Further industralisation of Moscow is prohibited, and all new factories must be outside the city limits. Famous architects and artists are collaborating on the intricate blue-prints, while town-planners throughout the world have been attracted by the fascinating possibilities in planning an ultra-modern city with unlimited resources. REMOVED FROM OFFICE. By 69 votes to 38, the Melbourne Trader HalJ Council decided to remove from office the vice-president (Mr H. Payne), because he refused to sever his association with the Victorian Council Against War and Fascism, which the council had previously ruled was a subsidiary of the Communist Party. The action was taken under rule 15, which provides that the council may remove any officer who neglects or refuses to perform the duties prescribed for such officer. Secretary Monk, who proposed the motion, said that Mr Payne had been asked to sever his connection with the V.C.A.W. and F., but had declined to do so, and had argued that he was only answerable to the Clerks' Union, of which he was a delegate. The Clerks' Union had upheld, the decision of the council, and the chairman of the union had said that

,it was not competent for the delegate to attend further meetings of the council. The executive had been reluctant to move in the matter, but in the circumstancesit felt that the position had become intolerable in respect to the administration of decisions of the council.

WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES. Widespread wage-cutting and increasing of the working week continues in the United States.

Where labour is well organised, code standards are being maintained, despite the Supreme Court decision which wrecked the National Recovery Act, but unorganised labour is suffering drastic reductions in standards. Labourers in a town in' Georgia have been cut from Is 8d down to 6|d an hour, In the same town textile workers have lost 25 per cent., and notice of another 25 per cent, cut has been given. In a Louisiana town about 30 per cent, of the local industries have increased hours and reduced wages. Towns in the State of Maine report 80 per cent, of the employers imposing the former hours and wages of unorganised workers, which are 10 to 40 per cent, below union scales. Workers in many Ohio and Pennsylvania towns have experienced wage cuts and longer hours. From town after town throughout the country unions report desperate efforts to maintain code conditions, and they indicate that these efforts will have to be maintained. THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM. Lady Oxford asks a very apposite question: What is this " Capitalist System" that we hear so much about? says a correspondent, writing to The Times. Most people when they use the phrase seem to mean nothing exactly. Capital, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary " is " accumulated wealth used in producing more." Sysjem it defines as a "complex whole, set ol connected things or parts, organised body of material or immaterial things." The capitalist, system, therefore (savs an exchange), is the organisation of wealth to produce *-^ e wealth. Its alternative is anarchy to prevent the increase of wealth. Thus every system under which men live is a capitalist system, whether it implies State capitalism, which is the ideal of Bolshevism, or the development of public services advocated by Labour, or the encouragement of individual creation, and possession of, wealth. Even slaves and lunatics who have no property have to live under a capitalist system'. The only exception is that of the pure savage, who lives by hunting and does hot even possess a store of grain for planting, a basket to collect fruit in, or a bow and arrows to shoot with. Obviously no political party really wishes to abolish the capitalist system. Its wrong development has caused the evils they are so vaguely decrying. For the possession of capital gives power—power for good, which they ignore, and power for evil, which they see only too clearly. But the cause of the evil is not the " capitalist system," nor_ even permanently in any particular capitalist system, but in the lives of the men and women who live under and create the form of that system. LABOUR AND WAR, At the French Trade Union Congress at Paris it was decided to endorse the programme laid down by the International Federation of Trade Unions in connection with the Italo-Abyssinian dispute. This demands that the League of Nations shall preserve absolute respect for the League Covenant and the complete application of all obligations arising from it, including sanctions. M. Leon Jouhaux said tha.t to indict war was not enough. It must be made impossible by refusing to help in preparing it. It wag untrue that sanctions meant war. Action against war must be taken on an international scale. The executive report, endorsing the I.F.T.U. programme, was carried by 5550 votes against 266 and 128 absentations. At a meeting of the General Council of the Norwegian National Trade Union Centre, held at Oslo on September 18-21, a report of the discussions and decisions of the joint International Federation of Trade Unions and Labour-Socialist International Conference, held at Geneva on September 6, was presented. The decisions of that conference, which demanded the full application of the economic and financial sanctions against Italy, were approved, and the executive was instructed, in conjunction with the organisations concerned, to support all steps taken by the two internationals in execution of the decisions.

It was pointed out at the meeting that the development of the Norwegian trade union movement was satisfactory and that the National Centre now had nearly 180,000 members. Setting forth the attiude of Brttish Labour to the Italo-Abyssinian trouble, W. A. Robinson, in his adddress as chairman of the thirty-fifth annual conference of the British Labour Party at Brighton, said that the party stands by the consequences of its own long-declared policy in regard to international law. Certain people had asserted that the Labour movement's decision to stand by the League of Nations is a declaration of war with Italy. "It is nothing of the kind," Mr Robinson said. "It is a deliberate declaration that the League should implement its powers in face of the open repudiation by Italy of her obligations, and an assurance that if it should take this stand it would have the support of organised Labour. "The League has a long way to travel before there need be resort to arms. In the event of hostilities, the withholding of supplies, if vigorously applied, would, 1 believe, briii" war to a speedy end. In any event, the almost unanimous view of mankind must prevail. No State can continue to flout world opinion, freely expressed. Should, however, Italy persist in ignoring the view of mankind, should she insist on repudiating her solemn obligations, should she defy the League and the sanctions it can apply, then, however reluctant we may be to apply the next step, there could be no alternative but for the League to attempt to restrain Italy by the threat of force, which only utter madness on the part of Mussolini would bring into play. ... So far from organised Labour desiring war, it fervently prays for the keeping of peace," After a solemn warning that if the League fails in this crisis it will destroy itself and the hopes of the nations, and every Socialist aspiration will be crushed, Mr Robinson appealed to the Labour movement for unity and courage in this testing time in its history.