Mr. S. G. Holland's Remedy For Strikes

Chronicle (Levin), 1 September 1948, Page 6

Mr. S. G. Holland's Remedy For Strikes

WELLINGTON, August 31. Tlie continuation of the coal strike qt Waikato rniiies, witk its huge iosa of output and eonsequent dislocation of trade £ind production, brings out in bold- relief the fundamental weakness in our industrial laws relating to tlio conaideration and settlement of industrial troubles, interpretation of awards and the matter- in dispute, ' ' said Mr. B. G. JTolland, in a statement issued tonight. '"The whole fnatter goes back to the .maii'yv occasions when deiiance of our labour laws and of the Government itseiff, has yieided better results in the vvay of liigher wages and shorter hours,_»than have boen achieved by negotiations'through the macliinery Ot . industrial conciliation and arbitration. ' ' The* fundamental weakness I have refcrred to is the very position obtaining at the Waikato coal niines today, munely, men working under Court awards or their equivaiont witliQ. provision for penalties'for striking, can stay out oa strike for several weeks and e.vou months at an immense cost and in.-onvenieuce to the general pubiie and vvith the public powerless not. oniy to do anything about it but also to understand what the dispute is about. "The iirst thing to reniember is that these strikes are not disputes merely between employers and emplovees. ^.ue strikes are strikes against society and society has a right to protection. What is badlv needed is that, as soon as a strike breaks out, a responsible authority in vvhom the public would have complete conlidence, should immediately visit the area concerned and conduct a tho rough arid linpartiai investigation into the actuai issues involved in the dispute. The findings of tluit authority should then be published for general infonnation. The pubiie 'us - entitled' to sueli informa'Lion as it has, in' the i'ong run, to meet the cost. " My view about industrial troublesis t lic.it puolic opinion plays an iinporLaut part in the settlement of tJiese "troubles and it vvill not have escaped public notice that most of our moro recent troubles have beeu settled as soon as pubiie opinion was uble to make itself .felt. ' ' 1 doubt very niuch whether oue person in ten realiy knows why the niiners are out ou strike at the presenl time. iSome means must be found, and found quiekly, of introducing niaehinerv to expedite the investigation o! disputes. Time must not be lost ivhile the eonteuding parties sit snarling at eacli other. Compulsory conferences should be eonvened as soon as strikes occur tuni an iiulependent linding by a properly constitutcd authority, should lie published at the earliest possible nioment. Then a compulsory conference to determine the issue, should toilow soon altervvard and any union, whether yf employers or of workers, •sliould be, severely dealt with if it does not coiuply with Ihe liijdi ngs of thc court. At the prese*t time we have provisionk for compulsory conciliation aird compulsory arbitration and niy proposal really aniounts to an extenison of the same principle of compulsory con ferencos with a view to investigation uiid settlement. " I ani oniy discussing the position as it exists in the Waikato today and J wish to emphasise that it has ahvays beeu the settl.eil policy of the Nationai I'arty that an independently supervised sccret ballot with- kppropi;i^4 pqnalties h>r nori -'o brlervanc 6, should "always precede any stoppage eithpr by eniployer or by einplovee.® The most receut dispute, that eoncerning tliq Mountpark, was an exainplo of ort'e which might easilv have boen nipped in the bud if an early investigation by a fact-linding authority such as I have suggested, had boen made when trouble first loomed ui). ' '