Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED Every Tuesday and Friday. THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1920. INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

Western Star, 1 April 1920, Page 2

Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED Every Tuesday and Friday. THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1920. INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

Throughout the world there is great industrial unrest. As fast as ono trouble is fixed up, another breaks out, and statesmen andi economists are beginning to despair of being able to arrange things satisfactorily. In Britain the miners are restive, but labour there has decided in favour of political as against direct action to remedy their -grievances, taind the decision is one which is a glowing testimony* to the practical commonsense of the British worker. In other countries, such as Italy, where the people are temperamentally different, the tendency is always to run to extremes, What the Latin temperament is like may ;be judged) from a recent occurrence in Milan, as reported by cable. A revolutionary delivered a speech which so affected his hearers that a riot broke out, and, as the exited crowd was rushing through a square where a Bohemian violinist was playing, the rioters forgot the revolution and cheered the musician. Where people are liable to such extremes, it is not surprising, that predatory syndicalism finds favour. The latest example of this comes (from Naples where the employees at an ironworks, because they could not get a four hundred per cent, increase in wages, seized the works, which are now in a .state of siege, surrounded by the police. In Australasia the men have never gone as far iais- that, and the great majority of the unions, like their British confreres, favour political action with the right to strike to emphasise their grievances. But the right to. strike is mad© use of with exasperating frequency, and for what appears to be very trivial reasons. In England! the Lancashire-Yorkshire railway men de- ’ aided to strike because a driver who refused to do extra duty had been suspended, and last week the Auckland) tramway service was suspended for some hours as the result of a. dispute regarding the dismissal of two employees. In strikes of this nature, the unoffending public are made to suffer innocently, and surely a means could be devised that would obviate these vexatious proceedings. It is due to tile public, who. are so dependent on public services, that something should be done. An Australian correspondent has mentioned that the Commonwealth, where the seamen are again threatening trouble, has experienced every conceivable form of strike known to the wit of man. Hei says there is the craft strike, in which the men in one particular industry refuse work; there is the one big union strike, in which the. men in allied trades are drawn in; there is the syndicalist strike, which aims at the complete paralysis of all industrial activity; there is the strike ou the job, in which the men “ go through all the motion” of working, but waste time by every means, they can think of; and so on. A new form of strike may be termed) “ obeying the regulations,” strike, and it has made its appearance in certain public services. It is rumoured that if the railway men of this Dominion decide to strike in the event of their requests not being acceded to, it will take the form of obeying the regulations. Such a strike would hit the public hard. -For instance, drivers, by the regulations, have to satisfy themselves that all points are safe before, crossing, them. Were the Dunedin train stopped at every points while the fireman got down to examine if they were safe, the rim to the eastern city would take an exceedingly long time. The employees Of the suburban electric trains in that part of Melbourne south elf the Yarra. are using, the }ipw weapon. They had a sharp dispute with their employers about the type of magnetic brake in

use. They hadl a seven-notch brake, and the authorities! deemed it dangerous, insomuch that it allowed the tram; to l he stopped , with such suddenness 'as to throw the vehicle off the rails and endanger the passengers. So a four-notch brake was substituted. The employees’ demand for tiie seven-notch was refused. So the train men' began a rigid observance off the regulations. There is a regulation winch says that a trami must not come down a grade faster than it went up, and that its speed on. a> curve shall be so and so. These regulations were not observed! literally—it was a compromise between theory and coraimonsensei—but now they are. Result, a complete disorganisation of timetables. There is another regulation which says that passengers must not stand on, the footboards, and it was more honured in the breach than otherwise;. These suburban services cannot carry the crowds comfortably in rush hours, and some latitude had to be allowed. Now, the trami men refuse to move the car so lonigl as anyone remains on the footboard. Result a further disorganisation of the timetables, and great inconvenience suffered by the public. The honours of war so far are completely with the tram men. At present there is an obey the regulations, strike on in the Sydney telephone exchange, and has been going on for months. The employees made certain demands upon the Department which were refused, whereupon thei employees decided! to. attend to only the regulation number of oaills per hour, instead! of their average, which was nearly double. “As a result of the extreme leizureliuess of the attendants methods,’’ says a correspondent, “an attempt to use the telephone frequently proves a short cut to madness.” For some time New Zealand has been afflicted 1 , with the sectional strike, the latest instance being the trouble among the Waihi miners. Discussing this ma.tr ter, the New Welfare League says: —“ We know that many Labour men dwell strongly on “ the right to strike,” that may bo fully conceded, and yet it fails to settle the more vital question of “ the wisdom and value of striking” upon which Trades’ Unionists are themselves much divided. Volumes have been written, on the old! Trades’ Unionism and the “ New Unionism ” —just a few words on the higher unionism). All recognise that Labour unionism is a great power to-day. The higher unionism will recognise that with this great power conies great responsibility. It is so easy to smash things and sometimes very hard) to construct. An idiot can put his foot through a canvas on which a geniusi has expended all the power of his life’s enterprise and skill. After all God has placed the limit, which puny man" is ever anxious to deny, that power is only power in so far as it is constructive and regenerative. Germany dreamt her iniad dream of power without responsibility; other Eimpires have done the same, and all have failed. The Labour movement basedl on unity will bei the higher unionism. i£ it recognises the supremacy of law, obi ignition and principle. To do this it must restrain sectional outbursts within its own ranks, even though they offer temporary advantages. It must insist upon proper discipline and the observance of all common rules, contracts and agreements. If it is to remain a power and! be of ai higher order the call is upon it all times to consider the public welfare in the battles it enters upon. Without regard to that Labour unionism or any .other form of combination, whether of capital or labour, is likely to find its successes but Bead Sea fruit. These thoughts we submit, not in antagonism to Labour, but because w'e hope that there, is something in them to help towards the common welfare of all.”