LABOUR MATTERS,

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 225, 16 June 1908, Page 7

LABOUR MATTERS,

AUSTRALIAN BY=ELECTION. THE INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES ACT. LITHGOW IRONWORKS. BY TEIjE{2IAPn—PKES3 ASSOCIATION— COPTHIOHI ; Sydney, June 15. The Miners' Federation of Newcastle has declined to register under the Industrial Disputes Act. The Liihgow ironworkers have refused to accept tin proposed reduction, of wages. LA3OUR CANDIDATE WINS. Adelaide, Juno 15. Mr. Errest Alfred Roberts, Labour candidate, has been elected for. tho Adelaide seat in tho Federal House of Representatives, vacant, by 'tho death of the Right Hon. C. C. Kingston.i ' fe MJ. WADE AND LABOUR. "WITHDEAWAL WILL NOT DEFEAT THE I ACT." I am satisfied that the great majority of tho worker), although this Act may not give them all th:y may wish, are prepared to recognise tho lav, and give it a trial, and to obtain an} o n i c ?f s Si y . am endmonts by Constitutional methods, jhis statement, by Mr. Wade, Premier of Ivew South Walcs-mndo in replv to tue Sydney; Labour Council's recommendation to unions ret to register -under tho Industrial disputes Ac—is evidently not applicable to tho ilinors I'eceration of Newcastle, which has adopted , he,advice of tho Council. Mr. Wade in tho speech partly quoted, dealt with the • Sydney Labour Council's resolution in detail, as follows:-^ •i j notice the resolution of tho Labour Council deals wnh two matters. First, advocating tlia- no steps be taken to form Wages Boards: and, second, 1 fcnat the method of tho strike bo relied upon to secure reasonable industrial conditions. WletJicr thoy register under tho Act or take steps to form AVogcs Boards is really immaterial, for tho Act provides that the intention of Rrliament shall not be defeated by tho refusal «f any person or persons to comply with the lav. If those who have interests at stake do liotthmk it worth while to select men of their own choice to act on their behalf power is given to tho Court as a final resort to step in end appoint representatives to fill these places, and then tho parties participate in tho award. .If an award is favourable to tho workers, the employers will, be compelled to Pay the rates fixed. The work, therefore, of tho tribunals will continue, irrespective of any action of a destructive character that may bo adopted or idvocatcd by those ongaged in industrial operations. "But the ground for criticism lies in the flagrant manner in which strikes are advocated as the weapon of tho industrial life in future. It is fresh m everybody's memory that, prior to the passage of tho Industrial Disputes Act, tho Government was told from all points that, unless the principles underlying the present Arbitration Act wero in somo form continued, whereby employers should be forced to pay ipen reasoncblo wages, there would be an upheaval throughout tho length and broadth of tho State; ind, moreover, if the Government was deaf to these—l don't know what to call them—ontreities or threats, it could not very well complain if the Unions wero forced to fall back on the striko as their only/means of obtaining just, conditions. .

may tako it that, oven now, if awards are-given to improvo conditions and increase tlie rates of pay, llio Labour Council would insist on these conditions being observed, and would raise a terrible outcry if tho Government or the Industrial Court for any reason was slow in : giving the men wliat they would be ontitlcd to by law. In the other alternative, the award may not be in favour of the men. In the noiv statute provisions aro inserted which will mako the Unions responsible in money payment unless they use reasonable offorts to induce their members to observe tho awards, whether favourable or adverse to them. The impression that will be present in most people's minds upon reading those prolonged discussions of three weeks with closed doors, ending in tho pronouncement in advocacy of the strike, is that tho Labour. Council either has little regard for the law of tho land, or else has small confidence in • tho Unions, and does not qxpect tho awards to be obeyed, and wants to dodge the responsibility of boing compelled to obsorve them." Tho Premier further warns tho Sydney Labour Council that a strike is a punishable offence, as also is the instigation of a strike.