THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, January 2. 1947. THE REAL ISSUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26349, 2 January 1947, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, January 2. 1947. THE REAL ISSUE

After weeks of delay which reflected small credit on the Government, the Federation of Labour, or the union concerned, the waterfront dispute has reached a crucial stage. The first step was the action of the National Executive of the Federation in advising the Waterside Workers’ Union that it did not agree with the policy of restricting hours of work on the waterfront in order to enforce its claims. In the interests of the industrial movements; and of the whole country, the executive urged the union to adhere to the method of settling disputes by negotiation. Such an announcement coming at such a time, and from such a source, is obviously of major importance. It can only be surmised that during the past weeks a bitter struggle for power has been going on behind the scenes' in the Federation of .Labour and apparently the moderate elements have won the day, realising for themselves what has so often been pointed out to them, that if organised Labour persisted in its irresponsible exercise of economic pressure it would eventually tear down its own structure as well as cause the most serious damage to the stability of the nation. By this action the Federation of Labour has served notice on the disruptive sections in its midst and the battle is now on. Its progress must be watched with the keenest interest, for it is not to be supposed that the Left Wing will lightly give way even if it does surrender on the immediate points in dispute. The executive’s statement apparently came as an unwelcome shock to the Waterside Workers’ Union, for its president has described the executive’s new stand as a “ blatant somersault,” but the real second act of the drama was not so much the union’s reply—which was on predictable lines—but the ultimatum by the Prime Minister to suspend the powers and authorities of the Waterfront Industry Commission if normal hours of work are not resumed before 4 Monday, January 6. The sequence'of events/is. obvious. In conference the Government and the Federation of Labour have worked out their policy and, assured of support, the Government has now laid aside its dilatoriness and taken the step which it should have taken some time ago. The Prime Minister’s action places a new emphasis on one passage in his •Christmas message: “ The use of power without responsibility to the whole community is the negation of democracy, and those with such economic power must not exercise it heedlessly.” The threat .before the union is a serious one, for if it is implemented, it will at onq stroke deprive the men of many of the benefits they have gained, in recent years. The union would be well advised if it falls into line, but even if it does, the matter will not end there. The future policy of the industrial movement in New Zealand, and. not merely . the ■ rights and wrongs of the watersiders’ present claims, is the reaTissueiat stake.