Trades and the Workers

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 826, 21 November 1929, Page 7

Trades and the Workers

Hy ‘ j

Y>Hf« over conditions. the glass workers of Mr. I*. Hally 1 , (‘onfiliation Commissioner. Xu agree mer ,t was r-'.iriiHi, and the Minister of Labour is being asked to appoint another chairman for a third meeting. in certain eases, and atVhe j Outsiders Benefit There is -■‘in* thine; wrong wit h disput* "a ■ rtain c lass of worker was enabled main 1 > through the srrenu,,n,4 efforts of he advocates -to work .. labour week instead of the previous week of IS hour Taken over the ro the men Lpl hours of leisure, or working days of eight hours eac h. It Blight, be expected, then. that, when a meeting was called of those who were outside the* union in that particular trade some gratitude would be shown. It is «l significant thing, however. that when a meeting was called and the employees of a certain firm— ; numbering t ,)O or more —were invited to join, not one turned up. This can mean only one of two j things- Either the men have not been educated to the first principle of uuiomsm. which is fidelity, or some influence closely related to the firm itself has operated to persuade them nut to become members of the union. Workers are still blind to the dangers which are facing their standard of living, and they are nor getting much reminder from the leaders of labour thought in the Dominion. In some Amis the union secretary is not allowed access to the men. even though in specific cases the men have ex pressed a willingness to join. Unemployment Workers have to face the fact that pven the United Government has failed to solve the unemployment, problem. It is hoped that the erection nf the Infectious diseases block of the Auckland Hospital will give work for i a number of men, but apart from that there is very little offering for labourers. A man who returned from the country the other clay says he spent six weeks in the vicinity of the King : Country, and after feeding liis wife and family and himself he returned with is 6d. The system of registration is blamed hy one union secretary for a great deal of the present muddle. Compulsory registration, he says, is the only wav «>f effecting a complete record. “I don't know whether there are 40 men out of work or 100,** he added, “but if there was a compulsory register at a central bureau the position would be clarified.” Court s Evidence Criticism of the methods adopted , by the Arbitration Court in taking * evidence in industrial disputes was voiced at the conference of brickworkers at Christchurch recently, when it was strongly advocated that i a verbatim report of ' the evidence, I particularly the cross-examination, I should be taken, so that if any doubt j is later thrown upon any specific phase of a dispute, reference to the evidence will settle it. This was ! clearly shown in the recent strike of • the slaughtermen, wherein there was ! no statement in the court’s record to verify the cross-examination made by Mr. \V. E. Sill, s cretary of the men’s union. It seems that, as many of the indusrrial disputes of today are the subjects of sub .equent litigation and trouble, it would be a wise move in the i ausp of justice that something on the lines s*» gested by the brick-

"ARBITER"

I workers should be adopted by the •i* I* rtment. It would not cost a gr* at d.-nl. Even if it did. the outcome I 'would justify the expenditure. Farms and Farm Hands L pr. sentativQ organisations of business men have persisted in the statement that men were leaving Lu-ms in order to take up reliei work! • and that there was plenty of work ottering on farms for men who were ; willin', to go to the country. The Am kland Unemployment Association, %V|th rhe . assistance of several trade unions, instituted a systematic eir- < ularisation of farme rs’ unions, and dispatched DM letters asking ii» whether there was any work oUering. ami lJ i whether men had been known to 1* nvf farms to take up relief work. A batch of replies trickled back—about IP* p< r cent, of the letters sent OUT a,l( i the important thing about them was their similarity. lliis is typical:—“We have no work offering for farm hands in this dis;ri‘t. What w k there is usually local unemployed in our own district.” In several cases there were vacancies for hoys at wages ranging from l»»s to LI a week bur in less than half «*. dozen oi the replies were there ' *ica.licit.s for full-wage farm hands. Tlu> answers, too. were uniformly similar in declaring that there had been no farm hands leaving farms ip go on n lief work. These replies s» em to provide an effective reply to the business men. who have apparently been making statements without qualification. Ills of Industry New Zealand apparently is not alone in its need for industrial reorganisation. The statements ot Mr. F. X. Simpson, president of the Associated Chambers of Manufacturers, indicates a similar state of affairs in Australia. "There hail been much talk of the need for industrial peace, but the year had yielded little more than a sad crop of industrial disturbances and profitless political strife,” he said. Misrepresentations, circulated largely in the interests of political exploitation. operated against the employers’ genuine desire for conciliation and fair play. "Last year,” Mr. Simpson said. "I shared the prevailing belief that bedrock had been reached by the commerce and industry of the Commonwealth after a period of post-war readjustment. But the year we are now concluding has been infinitely more serious for most Australian primary producers and manufacturers. ‘‘The situation today calls f>r an investigation of all the industrial legislation and regulation imposed by state and Federal Parliaments, perhaps with good intentions, but unquestionably with bad results in many directions. Recent severe setbacks io the rural interests have reacted unfavourably <m the centres of industrial activity, causing financial stringency, restric- ’ tion of trade, crippling of enterprise, ■ and increased unemployment. One might have expected such difficulties ; to bring a universal realisation of , personal and combined responsibility , and a determination to drop interne(cine differences about non-essentials. “Yet. while we find there never has j been more talk of the need of iudus- | trial peace and stability around us, it is really very difficult to find reassuring evidence of its early attainment. ‘‘During my term of office I visited New Zealand to see if Australian trade there might be extended. I brought away the impression that we j are drifting farther apart. Australians and New Zealanders are neglect iug a great opportunity to work with each other for the benefit of both countries. My suggestion is that we exchange delegations of representatives of commercial interests.”