STRIKES OR NO STRIKES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 171, 10 July 1908, Page 2

STRIKES OR NO STRIKES.

AMKNIJ.UKNTS TO THE AUIIITIUTiON AI.T. KXI'LAIXED BY T'llK MUJISI'KU R»l( LAliUi;. liy Telegraph'- i'toss Association. Wellington, Last Might. V/hiUt apparently tile provisions ot the lieu Act aysiiust striking are very drastic, they ave noi as drastic as tile existing law. because the original penalty lixed iTudcr llu- Act lor a breach ui ail award or strike liy a union or employers' associations is .QUI), whereas under the Bill ui tliia session it is iiiiced to .ClOtl, in l-ne ease of unions, iuid £2OO iur employers' Associations. 'J'iua statement, was nnitle by tile Milliliter for Labor to a press representative I o-day. All imprison iienl, he pOintetl out, is done'away, with, ami nothing but the civil process of siting lor a ilebt before tile ordinary Magistrate's Court n= left, as a strike'is now treated as a breach of award. .Mr Millar proceeded: I "If it is sititl that tile penalty 1.5 too drastic, for workers, then yon are lett with a bigger penally on the employer. If the penalty on the worker tor a Droacu of award is to be reduced, tnen the penalty must In 1 reduced tor the employer, and if that is carried out m its logical conclusion, and the penally brought down to a minimum, breaches will go on, and it will pay men to commit breaches. 1 want to uiatie the law eifeetive and observed. '1 iie only thing that makes lite present proposal apnear so drastic is the prominence wlncn is given these particular clauses by their being pltu-ed nt tlie beginning oi the Tiiil, itnd tile fuel tlint aiding anil abetting is now made an eipial Ollenee with committing a strike, but the aW'lute nonsense iliat is talked by some peopie ttiat a man lv.t> no freedom to leave his work under the Bid is Tieyoinl my comprehension. Any man can leave In* work at anv time. Art tlie Uul makes provision for is that a strike which is a, combined action on Hie part of the men is made illegal. A man s Individual freedom to work or to leave ins work is absolutely untouched, ami lie is put in a better condition even wit n the proposed penalty clause than itt the present time. "Xo put tile thing til a nutshell. Tlie question is now put before the pruptof New Zealand as a wlnne. Do they want, strikes or not? If ilie\ wish to revert to the old system oi things, mat a man can worn or strike as he pleases, it is easily done by repealing the Aut. But the unions have been told an along for some time now that the) caaaot strike uud itave the Act, aim therefore a clause has been put in that If a anion strikes that in itself will cancol its registration, aiiu caneel tin award. The needs' wage and exertion ivago lave been put in tor this reason There are cases in which, it is very hart to fix what amount should lie consider ed a fair wage owing to tlie uncertainty ol the term of employment. The lab'ji in such cannot lie termed easuu in the way that whart tabor is e.isuul but it is regulated liy tlie 'season. Out season might run for nine or lei months, whilst another season, owing li climatic conditions or~:otuc Other cause would only last six mouths, so uti any minimum wage fixed by the (.'our which might, have been a lair wage to a man who got ten months' work «oul< Hot be a living wage when he got oul\ six months' worfi. At the present turn the Court had no power beyond fixing : minimum wage, and that wage is 1 iaset on what an average tmin could earn bi working pretty well lull time. "Tlie proposal in the mil in regart to a need and exertion wage is purely permissive. The Cotiii cannot Ihm steps in TTiat direction at all mile-: both sides agree. The object of tin lloveriinienl jn putting the clause InH tilcir Bill is to provide that if botl parties desire the -liidge may iix . needs' wage instead oi a miniintin wage ill that particular industry. Ji that provision -or something similar u it is not put in we must continue or the present lines of one dead-level mini niititt wage to be paid fo the jjtcui majority of Workers. 'The exertion wage can onlv he introduceil by both sides agreeing to it and if both sides agree 1 do not sei why any other person should object, it will be a mutual arrangement between tli« men interested and the employers and the Judge can give an award oil those lines only wnen asked by tin parties, jhere is no compulsion proposed. If the workers prefer that nothill" III; all be done and that one deadlevel wage be continued its at present, then tliev need not use that clause at all."

DINEDIX VIEWS. Diinedin, Last .Night. On the whole, the new Arbitration Bill appears t 0 Jia\e give,-, a very fair amount of satisfaction locally. Air. Win. Scott (secretary of the Outgo Employers' Association) relets to it as an honest nUcnipl to solve a dillicult probleiu. The Councils of Conciliation, employers are not so sure about. Employers generally, he considers, would have preferred voluntary conciliation, instead of ( ouni-ils which are really auotner torn, of Arbilratiuu and winch "imply mean a return To tiio old oruer ol tilings. Neither party, he says, would have confidence in uie Conciliation Council. There is aiso a doubt as io whether a Court eouuT ever (leai with the ijiiestion of exertion wage?, anil in a very churl time it wiil drop into disuse. Mr. If. Ilroett, secretary ot (he .'iraUas and EabOr Council, said lie was satislied that no better proposal coud be wished for than that submitted liy Hi" local louncil for tln> conference of councils in Wellington this month. -Mr. Jolm Alct.Tegor says the Govvi> | meiit has come to the conclusion v: ■ in the last few days that Parliainei , in a mood to Uike whatever measures may be necessary to make strike, pmc ficallv impossible fur the Allure. next most striking feature i s the | - lion of the Court of Arbitration. , ■ reteiijfon has been assumed as cases 'ial, and this fact lias determined lne fate of the measure. Jle thinks " would have been hotter to adopf tne V ictorian Waf.es Hoards, instead ol linking an entirely new experiment. He suggests that Parliament should follow the Victorian precedent „n the sublet Ol apprentices, and (nU iron, (he Court power to impose restrictions as to nuiuuers lo bu einployorl.