Industrial Conference To be Called Again

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 445, 29 August 1928, Page 13

Industrial Conference To be Called Again

NO LEGISLATION YET REPRIEVE FOR ARBITRATION (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) j WELLINGTON, To-day. | No industrial legislation of any importance will be tackled this session by Parliament. There will, however, be another representative conference during the summer to discuss the problem of arbitration - again. This was indicated by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, in the House of Representatives last evening after the report of the National Industrial Conference, held in Wellington recently, had been placed on the table. Mr. Coates praised the work of the conference and stressed the value of agreements reached. The failure to arrive at a unanimous decision on arbitration, he said, showed the difficulty and complexity of the question. “The deliberations of the conference,” said Mr. Coates, “were largely confined to four subjects, unemployment, immigration .workers' compensation and industrial arbitration, of which the last was, of course, the most difficult. Before discussing arbitration, I wish to comment very generally on the first three, and in the first place I wish to put upon record the fact that the Government attaches the utmost importance to these recommendations, and has no hesitation in accepting them as the basis for future action or legislation, as the case may be. UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM “On the subject of unemployment the conference recognised that the complexity of the problem called for further statistics and for further inquiry, which it suggested should be undertaken by a committee. The Government entirely agreed. Statistics had already been asked for and the necesary steps to set up such committee were in hand. The recommendation that the Consolidated Fund should in the meantime provide the money required to cope with unemployment was in effect recognition of the principle which was already in operation. and which there was no intention of disturbing while the need of special assistance remains. “With the recommendations as to immigration the Government was in general agreement, although considerable difficulty was expected in arranging for the medical examination of fullfare migrants as recommended. Cabinet was, however, now giving the necessary consideration to the method of putting the recommendations into force in so far as they differ from existing practice.

“The recommendations on workers’ compensation again recognised the complexity of the position. A special investigation had recently been made into the Ontario legislation. Further information will be necessary. It would be generally agreed that the subj’ect should be treated as a whole, and it was proposed to defer decision on questions of compulsory insurance, medical attention and lump sum payments until the final determination on the general question could be taken. ARBITRATION’S LONG TEST ‘The system of industrial arbitration, which was introduced by the Hon. Pember Reeves some 30 years ago, as an industrial experiment, has been in operation for so long a period that any Government would hesitate before abandoning this system without an adequate reason. In recent years there had been considerable criticism of the eeffet of the system upon the welfare of the Dominion, and it had been asserted, with some show of reason, that the artificial fixation of wages and other conditions of work was not in accordance with economic law. Again, the readiness with which both parties to industrial disputes had in the past been prepared to refer to arbitration vital questions of wages and hours had, it had been said militated to some extent against the proper understanding of mutual difficulties on the assumption that these questions would in any case be rereferred to arbitration. The main object of the conference was to find, if possible, a way of meeting these objections. “We felt If those concerned could find their own solution this course would be preferable to any attempt to decide such a delicate and vital matter by legislation or other regulation from outside the ranks of the industry,” continued Mr. Coates.

“The conference, In spite of the goodwill of its members in their earnest attempt to grapple with the problem, failed to agree upon a unanimous solution. I believe, and my colleagues believe, that this failure may have been temporary only. * We think that the results of the conference, although small on the practical side, were large from other points of view, which, if ICss easy to perceive, are of even greater importance, and we feel that in the good feeling engendered by the last conference there is sufficient prospect of a further step forward to warrant the calling of another conference before any final decision is arrived at.

“The Government had therefore decided to bring the parties together again, in the hope that they may this time be able to find a solution which would protect the national welfare as well as preserve their own interests. It was proposed to convene another conference during the summer and to lay the whole matter again before it with the same object in view as on the previous occasion. “Until such a conference had definitely failed the Government did not intend to propose any legislation other than that necessary to maintain the status quo, and for this purpose, as a temporary measure only, it was pro posed to continue in force for another year the amendment enacted last session. One small alteration would be made entirely in keeping with the principle that the agreement of parties should be the paramount consideration, namely, that should both workers nd employers desire a new award they may take the necessary steps to obtain it.”