THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, January 9, 1939. INDUSTRIAL HARMONY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23702, 9 January 1939, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, January 9, 1939. INDUSTRIAL HARMONY

The new Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, in recent discussions with representatives of both the employers and the workers in industry, has brought a refreshing commonsense to bear on the problems which have lately been disturbing industrial relations in the Dominion. Mr Webb is not to be charged with indulging a partisan outlook, except insofar as he approves of certain principles of industrial policy already expressed in the Government’s legislation and is determined that there shall be no departure from them. That is entirely reasonable. But when he observes friction in industrial affairs he is sufficiently experienced and sufficiently unbiased to know that the causes of it do not all lie on the one side. It may be accepted that the Minister’s aim is to deal justly with all parties in industry. He has no patience with the worker who thinks that he is at liberty to disorganise the orderly processes of production and distribution just because he has a grievance. What he has lately been pointing out in various parts of the country is that, if present economic difficulties are to be overcome in the shortest possible time, both workers and employers must realise that their responsibilities merge rather than remain separate and distinct; and he has indicated that the Government itself realises that it has a duty to encourage to the utmost the development of such an attitude. In recent months industrial disturbance has too frequently resulted from apparently trivial causes. Strikes have occurred for which there was the smallest justification. If the Minister is resolved that these stop-work tactics shall cease and that disputes shall be settled by constitutional means he will lack nothing in the way of support from the community as a whole. One practical approach to the task of clarifying the industrial atmosphere was explained by Mr Webb in Dunedin on Saturday, at an informal conference attended by members of employers’ as well as workers’ organisations. He has in mind the formation of district councils, fully representative of all interests in industry, to scrutinise proposed industrial legislation and to make suggestions for its improvement before the stage of enactment is reached. This, on the Government’s part, may be regarded as .an innovation of both sensible and liberal import. Legislative anomalies have been a fruitful cause of discord in the past, as between employers of labour and those whose duty it is to oversee the administration of the labour laws. The Minister believes, rightly, that the great bulk of the legislation enacted by Parliament is of the first importance to industry, and it may be taken that he admits the necessity for including legislation which does not directly affect working conditions but may affect the capacity of industry to give employment. What the Minister is inviting, it seems, is the co-operation of all departments of industry in framing new legislation, so as to avoid the irritating anomalies that too often appear after Acts have become operative. The proposal is one that should readily commend itself, and if the Government is prepared to receive and consider suggestions in the spirit of Mr Webb’s request for guidance the smoother working of the industrial machine should be an immediate consequence. There is a pressing demand from employers as a whole for a wider elasticity in the application of industrial laws, and

there must be many cases where the removal of restraints would benefit workers as much as employers. The advisory bodies envisaged by Mr Webb will have a wide field in which to work, and the Minister has himself indicated an immediate line of inquiry by expressing his desire to see the “ antiquated ” apprenticeship laws thoroughly overhauled. Mr Webb wants a more practical form of legislation in the future. The goal is distinctly one worthy of the co-operative effort that he hopes to encourage.