Trades and the Workers

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 814, 7 November 1929, Page 6

Trades and the Workers

Bp

"ARBITER.”

Men Still Workless So the unemployment problem is solved' and worry is banished—we don't think! Unfortunately for the Government, labour, as represented by the workers themselves, did not accept the statement of the Prime Minister —through his deputy—as complacently and as credulously as it might have been expected. Men are tumbling out of jobs every day, and in all parts of the Dominion, and if the Government wishes to have them absorbed into work, it will have to create more and more relief work to cope with the situation. It is pleasing to read of the courageous manner in which Mr. Thomas, Minister in Charge of Unemployment in England, has taken over the question. Refusing to be bustled by the propaganda of opposing parties, of the fireworks of Mr. Lloyd George, he has been working quietly, with the result that expenditure, based upon sound lines and involving the execution of necessary work, has been undertaken with a view ultimately not only to carry through constructive works, but to encourage industries which will stand as monuments of national enterprise. Moreover, they will do more to settle the problem of unemployment than the mere over-afforestation of a country already burdened to the limit with forestry activities.

Mr. E. J. Phelan was right when, at the end of last week, he said: “The only way to solve the unemployment problem in New Zealand is to encourage those local industries which will lead men back into profitable pursuits." Where Labour Fails Political Labour did not come out of last week’s brush in the House as well as it might. Labour this session has lost a few opportunities, and it is a question of whether or not the time has come for a complete overhaul of the party. It seems that those who are in control in this country are too persistently obstinate to take a lesson from their overseas friends, and cater for the people who are able to put them into a responsible position in administrative affairs. A Reform member certainly slipped in at an inconvenient moment on the salary cuts restoration motion of the Labour Party—and just when the leader thought he had played his cards so nicely, too. What an opportunity presents itself just now when young politics is in a state of indecision, looking for a lead. Thousands of young men the country over are looking for a sensible lead on political questions. Yet Labour seems too proud to adopt itself to this want, and cater in a sensible manner for their requirements. The political views of thousands of these people are represented through the British Labour Party—but not by its New Zealand prototype. Why? Labour itself must answer that question by self-analysis. “Arbiter” could answer it without hesitation. Waterfront Work Officers on overseas vessels calling at Auckland have lately expressed the belief that unionism on the waterfront has been overdone. Comparing the j working conditions at Auckland, for [example, they say that on account of the multiplicity of protective regulations made by union labour in handling

of vessels, ships require a great deal ! longer to load and unload here than in most countries in the world. Granting machinery and handling facilities'to be the same, the officers allege, the 'New Zealand ports are slower at work, because of the “cotton-wool’ regulations which govern the working of these vessels. The maximum sling-load here, they hold, is absurd compared with the amount which is allowed to be lifted at other ports, while in other directions ship’s gear, which is condemned by the New Zealand watersider as being unsuitable for use, is used by the same ship at all other ports of call, Australia and America included. “If your watersiders were to watch for a while on some of the waterfront jobs in overseas ports,” one man commented, “they would learn exactly what work is and how to do it” This allegation might or might not be well founded. But it has been apparent for some time that union labour rules the waterfront. That is all right so long as everyone gets a fair run, but it has long been suspected that the New Zealand watersider is a little too stringent in his safety provisions when handling goods from American and other ships. Perhaps on the other hand it would not do us any good to have introduced American waterfront conditions 1 - there is a tendency toward scrapping safety provisions and go all out for getting the job done irrespective of the lives that are lost in the process. A comparison of the times occupied iu handling vessels at the various ports, together with the casualties involved in handling similar classes of goods, would be illuminating in settling this controversy. * * * Too Much Talk The supposedly ill effects upon youth of the relief work wages are outlined by an anonymous man calling himself a mill owner, who, from Palmerston North, conveys the interesting opinion that the latest relief scheme for the absorption of the un* employed had an unsettling effect on boys following definite vocations and was prejudicial to those learning trades. Boys of seventeen, who obviously had not reached their full earning capacity, were obtaining vel'y work at men’s rate of pay, he said Eight left last week. It was a double tax on industry, and farmers were calling out for labour. He added that the youths had made a declaration of unemployment, and apparently no effective steps were taken to verify the facts or ascertain when they were discharged. Not only were the fundamental principle 5 of the relief scheme being defeated, hut the conditions had an unsettling effect on other youths engaged 1B permanent vocations. , How. then, are the workers to liveThey get it from all sides. If are walking the streets idle there i an outcry, and the call to “Get on and do some work,” and if they taa work at a decent wage (but in anf thing but decent conditions at there is a further outcry that 1 money is too much, and they are o moralising youth from other trades. Where lies the remedy? Let so __ of these self-complacent mill own _ and others come to light with a jrL gible and sound scheme for setti. the problem instead of simply ing about it.