INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES

Southland Times, Issue 25545, 13 December 1944, Page 8

INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES

Record Total For Nine Months According to the latest abstract of Statistics, 118 industrial disputes occurred in New Zealand in the first nine months of the present year—the highest on record since the statistics were first collected in 1920. The disputes involved 224 firms, the second highest total recorded, and 24,755 workers—a record. The approximate working time lost is given as 45,948 days, and the approximate loss in wages £65,445. For the corresponding period last year there were 48 disputes affecting 53 firms and involving 7491 workers. The working days lost were estimated at 9157 and the loss in wages at £12,750. The previous highest yearly total of disputes was 83 in 1925. The magnitude of the disputes is measured, however, by the working days lost, and the total for the nine months of the present year, 45,948 days, is not high in ratio to the number of disputes compared with several previous years. For instance, in 1923 there were 49 disputes and the number of working days lost totalled 201,812; in 1921, 77 and 119,208 respectively; and in 1932, 23 and 108,605. Industries figuring most prominently in the disputes were coal-mining (47), meat-freezing (26), and shipping and cargo-working (23). The duration of the disputes was greatest in shipping and cargo-working (22,992 days).