INDUSTRIAL OUTLOOK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 87, 13 April 1938, Page 9

INDUSTRIAL OUTLOOK

CONCERN OF EMPLOYERS WATERSIDERS CRITICISED REVIEW OF POSITION TO-DAY “The executive is pleased to report that during the past year there hao been an all-round improvement in trading conditions. It is not to be presumed, however, that this improvement indicates definite prosperity, and for that reason the executive; urges caution,” stated the annual report adopted at last night’s annual meeting of the Wanganui Employers’ Association.

“There is to be considered the ±act that the Labour Government during its two years of office, has released millions of money for public works, and has arbitrarily legislated for a general increase in wages. These conditions, along with good prices for our products and increased production, have produced an apparent state of prosperity, but how lar it will prove real, and how long the boom will last remains to be seen. Where there is an excessive expenditure of public money there must be a day of reckoning, and it is then that the policy of the Labour Government will be under the acid test. Any Government coming into office during a period of rising prices, and immediately indulging in an orgy of public expenditure, can make itself popular with that section of the public who provide little direct taxation, but the policy may be likened to buying on credit —no pinch is felt until settling day arrives. This Government, within 18 months, has added 17,000 employees to the Government’s pay-roll, making in ali over 100,000 civil servants.

“Industrially, the regime of the Labour Government has witnessed much discontent amongst sections of the workers. The latter, no doubt, arrogant as a result of inspiration by a sympathetic Government, are not averse to flouting the awards of the Arbitration Court. It has happened, and then the Minister of Labour stepped in on the side of the workers and virtually dictated terms to the employers. Strikes and hold-ups have been numerous, and the Labour Government has been unable to prevent them.

Waterside Workers.

“The work done by the watersiders on the majority of the whaives around New Zealand has been slowed up to such an extent that the position has become a grave one. Presumably it is being so stowed up in pursuance of a preconcerted move to prove the failure of private stevedoring, and thus force shipping companies into the position of dispensing with stevedore contractors, and of contracting with the waterside unions direct for the supply of labour. It will not be in the best interests of the general public if the shipping companies should ever be placed entirely at the mercy of the waterside union. The time is long overdue for a complete overhaul of working conditions on the wharves, with a view to securing from labour a return commensurate with the wages paid. For many years past, the policy of the shipping companies nas been to placate the watersiders at the expense of the shippers, and it is time the shippers themselves were given a say in the framing of loading and unloading conditions on the wharves.

“Unemployment is still rife despite the fact that the Government has embarked on a huge public works scheme in a desperate effort to reduce registrations on the unemployment register. Despite reductions that have been made, the Government still maintains the iniquitous unemployment tax of eightpence in the pound. There is no gainsaying the fact that there is no artificial means of reducing unemployment. The only logical means is the removal of restrictions from private enterprise, and allowing industry itself to prosper and thus create sufficient employment to absorb the unemployed. Australia has adopted an exactly opposite policy to this Dominion. Australia fosters private enterprise, protects its industries and does not enter into competition with private enterprise. The result is an unbounded prosperity of a real and permanent nature. The Government’s policy here is one of interference m business and restrictions of private enterprise. The result is industrial unrest, mythical prosperity, high taxation and much unemployment. Compulsory Unionism, “One of the worst features of the Government's legislation has been the introduction of compulsory unionism. Whatever form of compulsory unionism existed previously, the legislation has now made it absolute. The reason is obvious, of course. Most workers’ unions are political, and the contributions in the form of union fees are a chief source of revenue for the Labour Party .The revnue of. the hundreds of unions is now gigantic, and we see publicly announced through the official Labour journal, acknowledgments of contributions running as high as £5OOO from one individual union toward the Labour journal and the Labour Party's political fund. How long can the employers remain indifferent to the political nature of hundreds of trades unions, having tens of thousands of pounds at their disposal to further their political ends?”