WORKERS PARADISE MAY BE LOST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 17, 16 April 1947, Page 2

WORKERS PARADISE MAY BE LOST

DOMINATION BY ONE SECTION COUNTRY’S PROGRESS HINDERED The Federation of Labour, with the - support of the trade unions of the country, through their domination of the political situation, was gradually imposing upon industry and management a process of devitalisation that was a positive danger to progress and the good name of the people of New Zealand. This was stated by Mr S. J. Sullivan, president of the Wanganui Employers’ Association, at the annual monthly meeting of the Association. “Today more than at any time in the history of man the duties of good government should consist in taking such measures as will prevent one section of the community dominating the other and impoverishing it so that the better section may profit,” said Mr Sullivan. As a body politic we must aim at such conditions in which confidence can flourish so that capital and labour can work side by side in partnership and be encouraged by mutual rewards proportionate to the efforts and enterprise of each. “It is a remarkable that that not a man in the trade union movement in the country has had the moral courage to voice or raise a protest against the provocative actions of many of its leaders. This shows his loyalty to those leaders, though the actions of the leaders may bring suffering and privation upon him and his family. “The large bulk of workers who favour high wages and less effort will long before the next decade have lost by their rapacity the paradise they have gained. The failure of the Government to put its house in order will have cost the workers of New Zealand their present freedom and high standard of living.”