"NOT STONEWALLING"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 135, 9 June 1937, Page 12

"NOT STONEWALLING"

PROPOSAL BY EMPLOYERS

The following statement was made of Mr. Gardner, on behalf of the employers, when the council resumed this afternoon:—

"We cannot accept seriously the suggestion by the union that we are stonewalling and have no desire to meet the situation. We are just as keen as the other side to come to an agreement, but it is obvious, and becoming increasingly so during the progress of the. propeedings, that to discuss a settlement on the basis of the proposals as presented by the employees' union is more or less impracticable.

"The assessors feel, however, that a practical solution must, if possible, be found and they make the following suggestion:—

"That the present proceedings be adjourned. That in the meantime immediate arrangements be made for a discussion at each port between the local board and its employees by a committee of, say, two or three on each side, with the object of setting out in full detail an agreed-upon schedule of conditions of work, and other matters relevant to this dispute, such to form the basis of a separate schedule for each port and to be included in a composite agreement.

"This appears to the employers' assessors the only means by which these proceedings can be facilitated for arriving at a settlement acceptable as far as possible to both sides, leaving only those matters impossible of agreement to be referred to the Arbitration Court. The employers' assessors are agreeable to communicate at once with all the boards strongly recommending the immediate adoption of this course.

"On receipt by either side of the schedules from each port, then it is suggested that both sets of assessors should meet prior to the resumption of the conciliation proceedings for the purpose of defining their attitude and exanjining the question of uniformity of conditions where this appears to be necessary, in order to leave as little as possible to be discussed at the future conciliation proceedings.

"The employees' union has already indicated its willingness to meet the position of the smaller ports with parttime employees and whose working conditions are such as would be incapable of being dealt with by. a Dominion award, and it is suggested that the volume of trade should be the governing basis in these cases. "The foregoing proposals would be acceptable to the employers."