MR WILLIAM SCOTT IN REPLY.
I A Times reporter on the 10th in6t. called i on Mr William Scott, employers' representative on the Arbitration Court, and 1 secretary of the Otago Employere' Association, and asked him if he was prepared to say -anything in regard to the i statements contained in the Otago Trades and Labour Council's reply to the Employers' Association's annual report. I Mr Scott said there -was only one por- ! fcion of thp Trades Council's manifesto that h& saw fit to make any reply to, and ' that was the reference to his position as a member of the Arbitration Court and as secretary of the Employers' Association. In ■ this there was displayed an altogether erro- | neous conception of the true position of things. By arrangement with the Employers' A<»ofiations of the Dominion, it had been decided thai Mr Scott should take i no part in any trade disputes under any circumstances whatsoever, and since his elec- j j tiqn to the position he has not done so. j With, regard to the engine-drivers' and dredgemen's disputes, he has had no intention of fitting as a member of the couifc ! when those disputes come before ir, even although thare is nothing in the act to prevent his doing so. The acting-member will, sit in connection with theee disputes. , ' In 6O_ far as any. future conferences , are . concerned, ,Mr Triggs, Industrial Cominis- j "sioner for .Canterbury anx) Otago, will* bje , called upon, to deal .with them, although, , - Mr . Scott "has actually been approached by j two different unions of 'workers to preside pver conferences between them and the em-.; pioyetts.- -This, however, he refused to do. "Furthermore, it is not hie Intention to be present at the annual meeting of the New • Zealand Employers' Federation in Welling-, : ton next £ W«>k. i ' Mr Scott pointed out that, this being tbe^.
case, ifc would be seen that the position, occupied by the employers' representative • on the court will be. less partisan than that, ©ccu'pied by the workers' representative, who not only -advises, • but has at times assisted, the unions to bring their . ■ cases before the Arbitration Court. As far as employers were concerned, they were , prepared to dispense with assessors on the court altogether, or, 'f the workers' unions , were agreeable, to give the ' representatives of the two parties on the court an absolutely judicial st«tus. If the latter cours* ■"were to be' adopted j employers would, how- , ever, want a very substantial guarantee that? the position would be held by a per- ■ son outside and above interference by the ' ' officers- and members of the various unions.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 10
Word Count
436MR WILLIAM SCOTT IN REPLY. Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 10
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