ARMS & PROFITS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 April 1938, Page 7

ARMS & PROFITS

PLAIN SPEAKING IN BRITAIN SIR T. INSKIP CONFERS WITH UNIONS QUESTION OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY RUGBY, April 4. At a meeting of the executive council of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, the Minister for the Co-ordina-tion of Defence, Sir Thomas Inskip, said the accelerated armament programme would place a new strain on the capacity of plant and labour in industry, and he suggested that representatives of the employers and the workers should meet to discuss how to meet the needs of the situation.

Sir Thomas Inskip tomorrow will meet the management board of the Engineering and Allied Employers’ National Federation and will point out the necessity for the assistance of employers to carry through the programmes. It is expected that after tomorrow’s meeting a conference between employers and trade unions will take place.

A Press Association report says Sir Thomas heard plain speaking from the leaders of the engineers, who raised the question of the profits of armament firms and said the union members disliked the Government’s foreign policy. Mr J. C. Little, the president, asked if the arms were to be used to defend collective security. Mr Fred Smith, secretary, asked what sacrifices the employers were prepared to make. Trie leaders after the meeting said they had received no reply.