ARBITRATION AWARDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1933, Page 6

ARBITRATION AWARDS.

The statement by Mr. T. O. Bishop, secretary of the Employers’ Federation, in regard to the validity of certain Arbitration Court awards should remove a good deal of misapprehension. Provided awards are obtained in the proper manner, Mr. Bishop considers the recent decisions of the Courts will have little effect upon them. He considers that it was the manner in which the awards declared invalid were obtained, and not their substance, that led the Courts to their decisions, and Mr. Bishop thinks there will be no more difficulty in the future in observing properly obtained awards than there has been’ in the past. His reminder that industrial peace has depended upon mutual regard of obligations by both employers and wageearners was very timely. Such good faith is essential if co-operation between capital and labour is to be possible, and without it the economic recovery of the Dominion will be almost impossible. The latest amendments to the Arbitration Act were intended to foster that co-opeia-tion by insisting upon conciliation before an appeal was made to the Arbitration Court. There are indications that the value of conciliatory methods is being more fully recognised by wage-earners, and Mr. Bishop’s statement should show them that there is no intention on the part of the employers to over-ride such methods by legal processes. With the signs of recovery becoming apparent it is. more necessary than ever that no industrial strife should interfere with the Dominion’s return to better days.'