Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 17 May 1926, Page 2

In the settlement of the labor affairs at Home, the unions are anxious naturally to save what they can from the wreck which was of their own prompting. They are in particular, anxious there shall be no "victimisation of labor. These ill-led gentry do not take long to forget that by their strike they sought to “victimise the public.’’ That they do not wish any of their own medicine shows at once how radically wrong' were their tactics. Not only did the unions strike, but some of their members broke the peace, and created riots. They were promptly gent to gaol. These misdemeanants they are anxious now should bo liberated. Some of

them committed acts which imperilled life and" property, and their wild actions necessitated the fullest action by the authorities to maintain security. However, despite the heinous offence of which the recalcitrants were guilty, the Prime Minister is prepared to go a long way to condone the position, but a new phase has cropped up in that the loyal labor must not be discarded to make way for the disloyalists to comeback. Even those who come hack, may do so only on terms which will include some recognition of the employers’ rights. It is certain therefore that all the strikers will not get back to their former positions, as those who stciod by the country in the hour of need must have first conideration in the matter of employment. Too often, in the past that side of the issue has not been maintained. At Home there is the disposition to be loyal to those who were loyal when the emergency rose, and that is a fair deal and a square deal. Whatever the outcome, labor must recognise and feel that it has brought the complications about by its own ill-advised acts. The public were the real victims of the strike, and in the settlement, labor if in turn they become victims, the cause is of their own making. Tt is to he hoped that the lesson will be taken to heart, and assist further to stabilise conditions generally for labor in the future. The effects of the strike have been very disastrous, and those who caned it cannot expect to return immediately to their former jobs as if nothing had happened.