ARBITRATION ACT

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19142, 27 October 1927, Page 8

ARBITRATION ACT

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS.

GENERAL LABOURERS' RESOLUTION.

The Canterbury General Labourers' Jjiiion bas forwarded to the Prime Minister the following resolution referring to the proposed amendments to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act:

"This Union sti'ongly protests against the proposed amendment to the Arbitration Act as not being in the interests either of the employers or of the workers, alid as a change that would certainly tend to result in a breach of the industrial peace winch this country has so long enjoyed. "We are of the opinion that the demand for the amendment has como from a section of the community which does not understand the functions of the Court, its decisions, or why, and on what grounds those decisions are readied. We believe that they are animated solely by a desire to abolish trade unionism and collective bargaining, or, failing that, to make the results, of the bargaining futile. The proposal regarding assessors and arbitsators is most unjust and unfair to the worker. It limits their representatives to those actually and solely dependent for a living on their retention of a job in the industry concerned, and in many instances the workers' representative on the jQonciliation Council, who was appointed by the union to voice its aims, would feel that his.own living was at state; in fact, he would not be a free agent, Free to express the aims of his union without fear of victimisation,. This proposal limits the choice of the union in its selection of assessors, and, in many cases, would debar its most able representatives.

"Any amendment might encourage in the workers a desire to retaliate, which might take the form of a boycott of the. employer's assessor who took any prominent part, and thereby bring about industrial chaos and disorganisation. The result would certainly be that a greater number cf cases would be forwarded to the Arbitration Court for settlement, whereas, at • the present time, the greater percentage of cases filed are settled by the Conciliation Council.

"As for the workers' arbitrator on the Arbitration Court, hero again the workers Would be limited in their selection of the most able arbitrators. Tho same objections and limitations are found in this selection, and, further, the work of the Couft would be much greater because of the many more cases that would be forwarded from the Conciliation Council. In every case taken in Chambers the Judge would have different arbitrators to deal with, which would certainly result in greater confusion, lack of continuity and uniformity of policy of the Court' preventing it from due consideration to every case that came before it.

"The whole proposal would tend to smother the conciliation spirit, and develop the combative spirit. This is not in the best interests of industry, and must result in industrial warfare with all its attendant misery and disorganisation. in addition to any economic loss far greater than the cost which the Arbitration Court is to the community (vide 1913 strike). "We' sincerely trust that the Government will reconsider the whole proposal. and leave the Act as it is at present framed, and 1 the Court as at present constituted.''