GOVERNMENT WARNED

Wanganui Chronicle, 25 February 1948, Page 5

GOVERNMENT WARNED

HIGH COSTS OF UVING (PA.) Christchurch, Feb. 24 "I am sorry I did not make it clear that the National Council of the Federation of Labour sought clarification of regulations in order that an application for a further wage increase could be made, taking relevant factors such as increased production into consideration,” said the president of the New Zealand Carpenters’ Union (Mr. F. L. Langley) today, replying to a statement made by the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) at Dunedin. “What I tried to do was give the council's reason for such necessary action, namely, that workers’ wages are of no more value today than when we received £3 or £4 a week. "I am unable to find anywhere in my reply to the Prime Minister that I had said, or Inferred, “the futility of all remuneration increases for the mass of the people since the Labour Government came into office,” Mr. Langley said. "I quoted the mover, who referred to wages, meaning wages of the workers. Figures can, and will, be provided showing that the existing price index is not a true measuring rod with which to gauge the standard of living ’This is one major reason why every housewife knows that the benefits gained under the labour adinuustraUon are rapidly being lost through higher prices and an increase in the coot of living, over which there appears to be no real control. Had the Government acted on the recommendations of the Federation of Labour on post-war stabilisation, this position might have been rectified. The Government, however, failed to take the necessary action. Let this be a timely warning that only drastic action on the part of the Government to arrest this position can save them from further disfavour. “With reference to my attitude toward law and democracy, I claim, with other workers, that where Die law is against the best interests of the people we have a democratic right to effectively protest. Only thus can. we hope to maintain democratic freedom, and only by such effort have anti-working class laws of the past been repealed. “With reference to members of the Communist Party named by the Prime Minister, I have worked with only three of them in their official positions as representatives of the Carpenters’ Union, and whatever their political affiliations may be there is one outstanding fact. They have never spared themselves In the Interests of union members and workers as a> whole. “The Prime Minister should have a higher regard for the intelligence of the workers of New Zealand than to believe that they can be mobilised into industrial action without a just and sufficient reason,” Mr. Langley said. “This is one of the reasons why I said that the Government is blind to the real situation of the workers, as in the present case, a just and logical claim to restore the wage rates of carpenters and joiners with those of other sections of workers ii* the building industry is being misconstrued to divert workers from the real issue at stake.” When asked jf it were true that detectives had questioned him about the go-slow policy of the carpenters, Mr. Langley said he had no comment to make. The committee of management of the Canterbury Storemen, Packers, and Warehousemen’s Union carried a resolution agreeing to support the Carpenters’ Union in any action it might take to improve the standard of living of the workers. The resolution “deplores the attitude of the Minister of Labour in his threat to prosecute the officers of the Carpenters’ Union.”