OTAGO EMPLOYERS ASSOCIATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2641, 25 October 1909, Page 5

OTAGO EMPLOYERS ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL MEETING.

[Peii Press Association.! DUNEDIN, October 23. The annual meeting of the Otago--Employers’ Association was held yesterday afternoon. The executive, in the annual report, states that the membership reached high-water mark last year, when almost the whole of the employers in Dunedin were accounted for. This year the membership has been fully maintained. The year opened with a credit balance of £479, and closed with a credit of £473, notwithstanding the fact that the expenses were the heaviest in the history of the Association. The report went on to state that some of the amendments promised in connection with the Factories Act were in the interests of employers as well as or workers; some ■were not in the interests of either. If the proposal to bring in weekly employment in our manufacturing trades was given effect- to it would prove a very serious interference with the basis of all labor in these trades, as it_ meant the paying of workers for idle time. In referring to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, the report says: “Owing to the attitude of the court in practically calling a halt to increased wages and reduced wages, and workers realising the uselessness of going before it with / increased demands, as was their wont every time the term of an award expired, they are now endeavoring to obtain by conference with employers what they failed to obtain from the court, and in some instances they have succeeded. Many of the older workers are becoming tired of the friction, expense, and'general unrest caused by the Arbit- . ration Court proceedings, and are exerting their influence in favor of more, conciliatory methods. The great majority of disputes during the past year have been settled 1 without the intervention of the court. To those who are not behind the scenes, and judging from, the newspaper reports, the new Act seems to be working particularly well, but such is not quite the case. Two dangers threaten industrial councils. First, the payment of members. In tho past tlie best work has been done by conferences with a good number of representatives on either side. Now that the workers have discovered that there is a guinea a day to be made out of a sitting -as an industrial councillor, they demand the matter shall bo dealt with in council. Representatives come to the council under instructions, and have no power to give and take, and a settlement can only be arrived at by the employers giving way. Second, the danger is brought about by a sorb of rivalry’ amongst commissioners as to which one is the most successful in settling trade disputes. So determined have the commissioners been at times to secure a settlement that they have advised employers to give way on principles which ivill seriously prejudice other employers, and in the end, cause more disputes than ever, for just so long as the workers of one district or trade have anything that has not been granted to all. so long will there be trouble and disputes. This aspect of the question is to he considered by the Now Zealand Employers’ Federation at its annual meeting, when no doubti instructions ivill be given to all secretaries to see that cases for employers are conducted along uniform and safe lines. The following office-bearers were . elected: President, Mr. J. C. Thomson; vice-presidents, Messrs. J. W. Henton and R. Cliisholm; committee, Messrs. G. Fenwick, TV. Fells, A. Burt. R. Glendining. C. TV. Rattray, G. Sim? oson - D. E. Theomin, P. R. Sargood, TV. B. M. Fea, and M. Cameron: Fed- \ oration executive, Messrs: Thomson, Henton, Chisholm, and Simpson.