INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1932, Page 4

INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION.

With the passing of the Arbitration Amendment Bill by the Legislative Council one of the most .important “planks” in the Government’s programme may be said to be "nailed home.” There has been much noisy asseveration by Labour opponents of the new legislation that it was tearing up an industrial system which had proved satisfactory and substituting strife for persuasive methods. As a matter of fact the new Bill goes back to the principles which underlay the first Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act introduced by the then Minister of Labour, the Hon. Pember Reeves. The governing principle of that legislation, was conciliation with the Arbitration Court as a referee, or an interpreter of legal points. Every employer of labour knows how far the system has departed from that intention and with what unfortunate results for the industries of the Dominion. The conciliation councils that were to have been the means of bringing employer and employee together in friendly discussion for their mutual advantage have drifted into a mere preliminary hearing before a dispute was removed to the Arbitration Court. The Court awards had to cover wide areas, were too rigid to take into consideration local conditions, and were, in fact, binding upon one party only. The employers could be compelled to obey the Court, while - organised Labour did as it saw fit in that regard. The new legislation puts conciliation first. In other words, it insists upon discussion, of a difficulty by those immediately concerned before more formal measures are taken, and it is framed to do away as much as possible with the special pleader on either side. No one imagines the Arbitration Amendment Bill will create a new heaven upon earth. It will require wise and tactful administration and a good deal of forbearance upon the part of employers and employees. Given these qualities there is every hope that better relations between them will be cultivated, a stranglehold on industry released, and the opportunities for employment thereby increased.