The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1942. Emergency Control of Industry

Southland Times, Issue 24650, 23 January 1942, Page 4

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1942. Emergency Control of Industry

AT A “large and representative” meeting of the Auckland Trades Council of the Federation of Labour on Wednesday night it was decided to oppose the emergency control of essential industries under the system recently introduced by the Government. , The federation is to be asked to convene a special conference “to endorse the plan for cooperation in the war effort between workers and employers by a system of production committees and local councils.” According to the chairman of the meeting, “the opinion was general that the set regulations are coercive and more calculated to bring about disunity than cooperation . . .” It is interesting to notice that “coercion,” which apparently is merely an insistence of democratic rights when it is applied to the doctors and other minorities, becomes a question of principle when it affects the extremist section of the industrial labour movement. The system of committees and councils visualized at the meeting would be cumbersome in normal times. At present, when the need is for prompt action in every department of civil life, it would almost certainly become an intricate machinery of postponement and delay. Every council set up inside an industry would have “equal representation of employers and workers, with a Government appointee as chairman.” This system would obviously weight the scales in favour of the workers. And the general public, remembering therecent examples of “co-operation” at Westfield, could be excused for assuming that the intehtion would be to impede rather than to expedite the functions of industrial control. Actually, the new regulations are not nearly as “coercive” as many others which have been accepted as inevitable in the present circumstances. The district man-power officers will 'have a wide authority; but provision is made for a right of appeal to a man-power committee. Moreover, the rights of workers in relation to wages and conditions of work are fully protected; and it has been emphasized that freedom .of movement within an essential industry will be restricted only where it is made necessary in the national interests.

The purpose of the regulations is to maintain.production at a time when the increasing demands on man power are threatening to create serious labour shortages. They are being applied in the shadow of a grave national emergency. It cannot be said that men who are unwilling to surrender some part of democratic privilege are co-operat-ing in a war effort which has now become an effort for national survival. Restrictions and regulations are unpleasant but necessary wartime conditions. At their worst they are infinitely better than the lightest form of alien authority which would be imposed on a conquered country. The test of democracy in New Zealand is the fairness with which the stricter control is enforced, and although there may be individual cases of injustice it can at least be said that the general administration is equitable. If industrial labour is allowed to control a system of supervision which is obviously the Government’s responsibility it will be obtaining privileges which will set it apart from the rest of the people. Those delegates who “took exception” to the fact that the “rank and file” had not been consulted apparently expect such privileges to be granted as a matter of course. Their attitude may be confined to a small minority, for it can be assumed that the Federation of Labour was given an opportunity to discuss the regulations at the recent conferences in Wellington. But minorities of this type are wasting time and effort which should be devoted to national preparedness. They will receive no support from the general public.