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Arbitration System Defended

By Tony Jaques

The New Zealand arbitration system was strongly defended at Victoria recently by Mr N. V. Douglas, the president of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

"The arbitration and conciliation system has been with us for more than 60 years, and I think it has worked fairly satisfactorily, particularly as far as the weaker unions without much bargaining power," he said.

"The system may have worked against the stronger unions in that they might have come out better with direct bargaining.

"Over the years we have built up a system which acts fairly efficiently when weighed up against systems in other countries."

"The trade union movement in this country has, year after year, reaffirmed its support for conciliation and arbitration.

"I think this system is a good one, and I am satisfied that we have advanced more as a result of the concilation and arbitration system than we could have done without it.

"If you can get behind the scene of a strike it is a very ugly situation.

"Many people get hurt, and not only necessarily those involved in the strike.

"Often the strikers do not get what they hoped for, and often they lose what they could have got otherwise.

"I have rarely seen a situation where, with proper advocacy, a strike could not have been avoided."

Mr Douglas said that the system had to be pragmatic enough to meet each situation as it arose.

"Without some sort of system we would soon be back in the jungle, and I certainly don't want that."

Mr F. J. L. Young, lecturer in labour economics at Victoria, the second member of the panel discussing the industrial scene said: "I cannot share Mr Douglas' optimism about the system.

"It has prevented the unions from developing modern outlooks and ways of bargaining. It is also faulty in that it is based on the old system of the man-master relationship."

Asked by the panel chairman, VUW Labour Club Secretary Anthony Haas, what he would prescribe. Mr Young said: "You need some sort of indicative planning at the centre."

Mr Douglas said that he would agree with this.

The third member of the panel was the secretary of the Clerical Workers' Union and the New Zealand Food and Chemical Workers' Union, Mr Des Nolan.

Asked what he understood by the term industrial relations he said: "It is the attempt to work out the relationship between those who control labour and those who control capital.

"The employers ask 'what can we do to keep the establishment rolling, to avoid stirring up the unions, and to try to maintain a paternalistic attitude towards the workers.'

"I think the I.C. and A, act was meant to be the bones— the framework.

"The originators of it realised that it would not work unless there was a full recognition of its spirit by the people using it.

"It was left for the unions to put some flesh on the bare bones."