Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1925. SHIPPING HOLD-UP.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2854, 5 March 1925, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1925. SHIPPING HOLD-UP.

THE general ]>nl»!i<- will not be gull((1 or for long' pui up willi I lie (.• i• - - lies of flip w;i Inside workpi's in flip present shipping hold-up. The moil refuse 1o nhidp by Hip decision of (he Arbitration Court. Award as to wages. As the “Post” points out “There have linen eight, separate and distinct holdups of shipping in the past monlli. The men have simply refrained from offering their services. With eight refusals it is idle to prelend that there is no concerted action and that the Unions are quite in the dark as to what is going on. Either the Union leaders know what is being done or they have lost the confidence of the membership and are no longer leaders. II is equally absurd to suggest that the wntersiders have refused the work on each occasion for sonic reason not associated with the award. An attempt lias been made to argue away the significance of the Rotoina hold-up in this way: that frozen cargo work was disliked and that men usually employed hy other companies could not he expected to take this class of work. Eight refusals in less than a month rule out any such excuses.” ‘lrritation strikes’ as Hie Secretary of the Waterside Employers’ Association has termed them, interrupt the working of vessels us effectively as a complete hold-up. There must ho, an understanding; and it is to obtain that understanding that the’employers have j’esolved not to engage labour until a satisfactory guarantee is given that all vessels will he worked under the terms of the current award. The terms of that award are now not open to question. No system of arbitration can stand if one party is to have freedom to accept or reject the award as il sees tit. Registration under Hie Arbitration Act involves acceptance of the jurisdiction of the Court, not merely those Court decisions which are deemed

favourable. The employers have held to their bargain and they would be failing in a public duly if they now silently acquiesced in the watersiders’ tactics. Each a course would be a bad blow to flic Court, and a blow which would react upon the workers themselves, for, though they may not be ready to acknowledge it, Hie workers of New Zealand have much to he grateful for in the protection and assistance they have had' from the Court.”