PROTECTING PRODUCTION, NOT INDIVIDUALS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 14, 12 October 1942, Page 4

PROTECTING PRODUCTION, NOT INDIVIDUALS

The decision by the Wellington Manpower Industrial Committee, revoking an order for the reinstatement of two employees who had been dismissed from an essential industry, is an important one. In the circumstances of this particular case, as disclosed in evidence given before the committee, the decision gives recognition to a principle which must —if the emergency control of industrial employment is to achieve its proper object—be accepted as being inherent in the Regulations. This principle is that the Regulations are designed not for the advantage of individuals, whether they be employees or employers, but for the protection of essential production, at a time of national crisis, when the smooth and competent maintenance of production is vital to the welfare of the community. There would be no excuse for official interference in matters of this kind were it not for the fact thzft the national welfare is involved. It follows, therefore, that in exercising supervision over essential industrial employment, the sole consideration of the authorities must be the securing of maximum efficiency. This would be hampered, instead of assisted, if Regulations which forbid the dismissal of employees except by the approval of a manpower officer could be invoked for the purpose of shielding inefficiency, slacking or irresponsibility. The Regulations would have an equally unwholesome effect if the power given under them to prevent ah employee from leaving an essential industry were used in such a way that a valuable wot kei remained tied to a trouble-making or incompetent employer. The Manpower Industrial Committee (which is the appeal body in disputed cases) has shown by its decision that the Regulations cannot be looked to by either employees or employers as a means oi escape from the consequences of failure to meet their obligations. This is a very timely public example, for the indications are that too large a minority of individuals in this country are inclined to tiy to take advantage of their so-called “essential” status in industry. In so doing they undermine the very discipline which the Regulations were devised to create —a discipline which is a wartime necessity and which, therefore, must be strengthened if the nation is to suivive. hi considering the case before it, the manpower committee recognize in fairness to the manpower officer who had ordered the reinstatemen of the employees concerned that the full facts had not been ayai a e to him. This is understandable, and the public will not look upon the committee’s ruling as being either a rebuke to the manpower officers or in conflict with the policy they endeavour to follow. Instead, the decision will be seen as a sound and common-sense application of emergency authority, and a warning to those who may seek to misuse it.