BLACK RECORD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 54, 16 July 1947, Page 8

BLACK RECORD

STRIKES IN DOMINION SIXTY PER CENT. INCREASE _ Attention to the industrial disputes reported in New Zealand during the regime of the Labour Party was drawn by Mr G. F. Sim (National, Waikato), while speaking in the Address-in-Reply debate. Prior to 1938, according to the Year Book, the largest number of strikes in one year was 83—in 1925, he said. The largest number of workers on strike for any one period was in 1920, when there were 15,135. But in 1945 there were 154 strikes, with 39,418 workers involved, and while those strikes were taking place, the country was at war. Mr Sim proceeded to compare an average of 10 years prior to the Labour Government and ten years after the Labour Government came into office. In the 10 years from 1921 to 1930, there were on an average 52 strikes a year, involving 6J3 firms and 8135 workers. From 1936 to 1946, the average was 83 strikes, involving 269 firms and 18,171 workers.

, Under Labour there had been a 60 per cent, increase in strikes. The number of firms affected went up 300 per cent., and the number of workers involved increased by 125 per cent. Although strikes might have been of a shorter duration since the present Government took office, the figures proved that there had been more strikes.

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