MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23058, 8 December 1936, Page 6

MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM

CR M'MILLAN'S PROPOSAL ADOPTED BY CITY COUNCIL EMPLOYEES AT COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The proposal to admit elected representatives of departmental employees to meetings of committees of the City Council, introduced by Cr D. G. M'Millan at a previous meeting, was adopted on the casting vote of the Mayor last evening. The opposition to the scheme was led by Cr A. H. Allen, but the attack was less vigorous than might have been expected since it was admitted by all the opponents of the idea that opposition was futile. AN EMPLOYEE'S IDEA Cr M'Millan moved: "That the employees of each of the departments be asked to elect, by ballot, a representative who shall attend, in an advisory capacity, all meetings of the respective committees controlling such departments. All employees shall be given an opportunity to vote for their respective representatives in the ballots which shall be conducted by the unions concerned. The time spent by. the elected representative in attending such meetings shall be deemed as being in the course of his employment by the council, and no deduction ,in his or her wages shall be made in respect of time so spent." The mover said he had already outlined the proposal, and at this stage would content himself with remarking that it was a principle that had been considered many times and by many people, and that his own action in bringing the matter before the council was the result of a suggestion by a very progressive tramways employee. "STARTLING AND DANGEROUS" Cr Allen said he would like to think that so startling and dangerous a proposal was Cr M'Millan's own and not that of the caucus.

Cr Silverstonc: It's our policy. Cr Allen: I am sorry to hear it

Continuing, Cr Allen said that in view of what Cr Silverstone had said he was speaking under a serious handicap, because as far as a majority of the council was concerned he was addressing closed minds. Nevertheless, even if their minds were closed their ears must be open, and he proposed to make a few comments on a very dangerous proposal. It had always been recognised that the affairs of the city, administrative or trading, had been admirably managed, and he was sure that the employees themselves were so contented that the proposal could not have come from them. Why was such a course necessary? The workers already had representation on the committees through their heads of departments, who had always given due consideration to the workers under their control. If the employees felt that their welfare was not being considered surely they could pass on their complaints through the heads of departments. He thought that such a system had always obtained in the past, but if it had not it could easily be arranged. His greatest fear, however, was that the proposal would result in the undermining of authority and a lessening of efficiency. Then, again, if such representatives were admitted to committee meetings nothing in the council's work would remain secret. He knew that committee matters in connection with the council's activities had been taken straight to the Trades Hall in the past. A councillor present that night had admitted it. Cr Silverstone: Hear! Hear!

Cr Allen: Yes, that was he who just spoke, and he now endorses his own action. In conclusion, Cr Allen said that the council's workers already had one vote as citizens, and this proposal would give them another. But what he would like to know was whether these employees' representatives would be paid overtime rates for night committee meetings, and whether they would be members of the caucus. Cr M'Millan had said he wanted to have real Socialism in his day, but personally the speaker thought they were galloping in the direction of revolutionary Socialism, if not actual Communism. Cr Mitchell said he knew opposition was futile, but he would like to know whether the employees had asked for such a system. He could not see what good it would do, but his main objection was that it would undermine discipline until it was of no value at all. He thought the proposal was so drastic that the ratepayers should be given an opportunity of expressing their opinion on the matter. CO-OPTED FOR ADVICE The Mayor (the Rev. E. T. Cox) said that Cr Allen had put forward a very lame case. The previous management of the city had been good from a business point of view, but why should it not be so when they had a complete monopoly of public services? If they could not manage things well in such circumstances they should give up. However, the admirable management of the city's affairs in the past had not been recognised by the vote of the people. If it had been, Cr Allen and those who hated caucuses so much would still be in control. Concerning the workers' attitude to the idea, he would simply say that it was the universal demand of the workers' organisations of the whole world. He refuted the suggestion that employees were not as capable of keeping their counsel as heads of departments. That was an insult to the body of workers. Ordinary management tended to become static, and it was councillors who kept it moving and elastic, and he felt that the admission of employees' representatives would make it more elastic still. Finally he would say that it was not the purpose of the Labour council to wait for people to ask. It aimed at giving a lead. Committees would not be sitting to hear complaints either. If the workers' representatives wanted to make complaints they would not be listened to. They would attend to give advice only when it was asked for and to help where possible in the running of the municipal machine. QUESTION OF SECRECY

Cr Begg described the motion as an unfortunate proposal, arid said he wondered whether the mover had realised the lengths to which it might be expected to go. For instance, had they Cr M'Millan's word as a councillor and as a citizen that these workers' representatives would be bound down to the same secrecy with regard to confidential matters as councillors were? He had every faith in the willingness of councillors to remain true to their trust, and he would like to feel that the workers' representatives could be relied upon in the same way. If they could not be assured on that point they might as well throw the proceedings of committees open to the press. CONFLICTING VIEWS Cr Batchelor, supporting the motion, said it would be better for the city if private individuals adopted the same scheme. Cr Cameron said the proposal was quite unnecessary, and for that reason he would oppose it. Cr Scott said he would oppose the motion because it was, in his opinion, the greatest mistake the council had made. Cr Silverstone delivered himself of an impassioned defence of the motion, in the course of which he foreshadowed the appearance of real socialism. It was not the supporters of the motion who had closed minds, but its opponents. They were too blind to see that the system they had been bolstering up was crashing around their ears. Cr Shepherd suggested that the proposal should be carried further to provide employers with representation on the unions. Cr M'Millan, in reply, said most of the speakers, with their talk of secrecy, would like to encourage the myth that the council did all the work, and spent its time in weighty and important deliberations, when really they did nothing but routine work. The speaker outlined the personnel of the Tramways Committee, and asked how well-

equipped its members were to make a tramway pay. All they proposed was to co-opt the services of their employees to mutual advantage and so improve the esprit de corps of the service. The motion was carried on the casting vote of the Mayor.