ARBITRATION ACT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 839, 10 June 1910, Page 6

ARBITRATION ACT.

EMPLOYEES' VIEWS. LABOUR ATTITUDE- CRITICISED. Somo interesting criticisms on the working of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, together with some proposals for amending it, are comprised in tho annual report of the Wellington Employers' Association.' Following are extracts:— "Tho operation of the conciliation clauses of this Act havo proved satisfactory in so far as the settlement of disputes und the saving of references for their settlement to the Arbitration Court are concerned, but it is greatly to be feared that the peace thus secured has in many instances been at the expense of tho employer and at heavy cost to him. Generally shaking, when unions create fresh disputes they are out for further concessions from employers, and their representatives, attend conferences with employers to press their new' demands, but with tho apparent intention of. not yielding to any claim put forward , by employers however reasonable it may be. ' "l'oui committee is doubtful if the introduction of assessors into disputes is the best means of bringing about agreement, and favours the settlement of all disputes by conferences between the workers' representatives and their employers, such conferences to be arranged for and presided over by the Conciliation Commissioner. Your committee is convinced any agreement thus made would give more general satisfaction than many of the settlements made by Conciliation Councils have done. Failing, agreement in this way disputes should then be referred direct to the Arbitration Court and an award secured. ' ■ ■ : When Work is Slack. "A number of employers, who desire during slack periods to find of make work for their permanent shop or factory hands have made inquiries'as" to the conditions under which . their employees might bo kept employed in' cleaning or renovating the. premises in-'which they work. A. suggestion has been'made that the Legislature might reasonably be asked to amend Section 71 of ;the Arbitration Amendment Act to read:—'No award or industrial agreement shall'affect the employment' of'any worker who is employed otherwise than for the direct or indirect pecuniary gain. Of the employer, or who, being a permanent employee iii any shop or factory, is employed in renovating or repairing the ...shop, , factory, or plant in or about which lie is employed., ". ','...• Unions and the Act. "The attitude of. a number bf branches of Labour. towards the Act and Arbitration Court is significant amU important. A considerable number of unions of workers have recently cancelled their regis--trnlioa under the Act and are thus no longer subject to the penalties for striking provided in the latest amendment of the law. It is also- found that other unions, although registered under the Act,: are not' prepared to respect existing awards or agreements, or to be content with the machinery provided by the Act for the settlement of differences. This statement, is verified.' by the action _ of the slaughtermen of ' the Dominion, who made a simultaneous, demand in each centre for a material increase in rates of pay, accompanied by a threat that they would '■ strike unless .the advance were granted, and this notwithstanding that at most if not all centres they were-working under either awards or industrial agreements. As the time : selected for this arbitrary action was in the midst of tho slaughtering season tho ' various companies concerned ,wero awkwardly placed, and ultimately agreed to grant tho increase asked. Tho period for which tho agreement arrived at should be in force 'was .fixed at fivo years, and although the workers' representatives gave their assurance that the Slaughtermen's Federation .controlled all their workers in the 'Dominion, within two or three months'of ,tho settlement of the trouble, the Auckland Southdown Freezing Company had to combat a striko amongst its men. "The Right to Strike." "It is believed tho Federated Slaughtermen disapproved of tho action of its Auckland members, but this striko is a further proof that tho workers aro not prepared to give up their right to strike, although they are ever ready to secure all the advantages and concessions possible by Arbitration Court proceedings." Another illustration of the attitude of labour is revealed in , the' , several attempts to secure concessions' to workers' from Parliament, after the Arbitration Court. had refused to grant their demands. "Your committee is only confirmed by these facts in its formerly expressed opinion, that tho workers are not truly loyal. to Arbitration Court decisions, but are prepared to. remain under the provisions of the Act only so long as they oelievo they have something to gain thereby. ■" . Wider Strike Clause Wanted. "In view iof the cancellation by a number of unions of their registration under the Act and of the freedom from penalty, for striking they thus secure, your committee considers the time has arrived for further, amendment of the law in regard to striking by widening tho scope of the strike clauses of the Act so as to embrace unions "(whether registered under the Act or not) or any body of workers acting in concert, whether in a union or not, with special provision for'the punishment of strikers who endeavour to stop supplies of domestic requirements in order to secure their demands." , After drawing attention to tho merits of the Canadian Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, tho report concludes its. reference to the subject in the following amendment:—"With reference to the statement repeatedly made by unionists that the Arbitration Court entirely favours employers, it can, on' the other hand, be truthfully claimed by employers that from the first coming into operation of the Act up to tho present time they have experienced nothing but increases in wages and greater restrictions in tho conduct of their businesses at the hands of the Court." . - •