TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, 7th OCTOBER, 1936. FACTORS IN COMMERCE.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3818, 7 October 1936, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, 7th OCTOBER, 1936. FACTORS IN COMMERCE.

MODERN commerce is a merging of many component parts, the principal two being capital and labour. Between these two there has been much conflict in the past, particularly as the latter began to collectively share in the commercial scheme. A new era, however, is dawning—if, indeed, it has not already dawned—and the admission of a dual force in industry is admitted and generally accepted. As example, in England the other day, at an employers’ conference, it was laid dowm in the presidential address that:

“ Ritter conflict between employer and employed could be as futile and disastrous as war between nations. Industry by now has realised the advantage of settling differences by preliminary investigation and subsequent round-table conference. There has been a change of outlook in that half of commercial life is represented by the trade unions. Trade unionism no longer exists as the bargaining instrument for the price of labour, but is seeking a new status—a recognition that its organisation is part and parcel of the whole industrial machinery, and can and must cooperate' in helping to solve the many problems of commerce.” -

At the same moment a Labour Congress in Britain was being cautioned that strikes do not pay:

“ Workers who persist in the attitude that unofficial strikes are a means of advancing industrial security,” declared the Union president, “ tend only to bring unionism into disrepute. Employees who engage in lightning stoppages without notice either to employers or unions are anarchists and not trade unionists.”

In New Zealand the interpretation can be very much the same. Experiences show that the unions honour any agreement into which they enter, and resist attempts to force them to violate commitments. On this Mr Semple has had much to say, and he has been plain-spoken in his advice to those who would intrigue the workers into unofficial strikes, declaring them guilty of a grave injustice to the workers as a whole. Harmony between capital and labour—or, if one prefers, employer and employee—is a first essential to the welfare of both. It may perhaps be easy to criticise false and short-sight-ed conflicts of the past, but in the main it -is apparent that by organising labour the unions have made it easier for employers to compose differences and so avoid the crippling extremes of strikes and lock-outs. There was time when employers felt that the workers were being organised in order to become absolutely dominant, and that friendly co-operation was not practical politics. This view has, however, been modified considerably in recent years, and the whole tendency is for both sides to collaborate for the general good. It may be, however, that unionism is proceeding at too great a pace, and only time and experience can prove whether enforced unionism—whether on the part of the worker as a member of a trade union or of an employer as a conscript to a trade association—is destined to improve industry for the good

of all. The ultimate goal is, of course, a more orderly commercia l mechanism, leading to greater effiency in the systematic use of the working hours and a more balanced ratio between supply and consumption. Trade unions cannot, of course, hope to get more out of industry than is put into it, and it is well, therefore, that, full representation is secured for them in the processes of conciliation and arbitration. This is an assurance that economic factors shall not be ignored or overlooked. It is a point from which better understandings begin and that business shall be placed on a proper financial basis. After all, the trade unions are really investors in the concerns that give them employment. They contribute service, and the return they receive, will be commensurate with the value of such service and what the industry can afford. <

Only through the channels of reason, as opposed to a trial of strength, can success be attained. The old idea that there had to be everlasting antagonism is fast losing ground. It is realised that overbearing domination by either side leads nowhere, and that the peace and progress of industry depend upon co-operation. Industry is based on the fundamental principle of service in the production, supply, and distribution of the needs of the community. This is a co-oper-ative job in which no one group or section can enjoy any monopoly of privilege or responsibility; and, after all, simple logic suggests that employer and employee, having worked together, should be readily able to apportion the rewards of successful endeavour upon a basis of equity and reason.

The world has progressed a long way since the days when those who controlled industries were anxious to keep the workers in ignorance of the undertakings in which they were employed. In these days we are more enlightened, and, indeed, employers are generally looking to their own staffs to supply the technicians and raanagers of the future. The new unionist spirit is for co-operation lather than for coercion; it is, at rock-bottom, an orderly attempt to equally spread opportunity and to share in responsibility. It is indicative of a desire to co-opt the forces which can be equitably employed in the intricate mechanism that constitutes the whole system of commerce and to secure in fuller measure, for society as a whole, the advantages which science and ingenuity have devised to make less arduous the work-a-day responsibilities of man. That) surely, is not too much to aim. for. The elimination of waste, the orderlj 7 development of trade, the systematic study of industry as a whole—these are questions which unionism on all sides must investigate, so that in the end, and undismayed by extremist doctrines and despite misguided agitators who belie the name of unionism, employers and employees can promote a common welfare on which so much depends.