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that every facility should be given to cover these workers by an award of the Court or by an industrial agreement. What is the position to-day amongst the rural workers ? It is simply this : that the wages paid are so low that it is recognized in New Zealand that any occupation on a farm is a single man's job ; in other words, the industry will not pay a wage sufficient to enable a married man to maintain his wife and his family. If he is married, his wife has to work on the farm as cook ; and advertisements appear in our daily papers for " Married man ; wife to cook ; no encumbrances." Revision of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. —There are three questions which the labour movement considers should receive serious consideration from this Conference : (1) Has the arbitration system as we know it in New Zealand outlived its usefulness ? (2) What amendments are necessary to our present Arbitration Act to meet modern requirements ? (3) What system, if any, should be introduced to take the place of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act in New Zealand ? The labour movement has given full consideration to this matter, and, although it may appear to some that we are in favour of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act in its present form., this is not the case. We recognize that some method of adjusting industrial disputes is necessary, and in the absence of any other system we naturally adhere to the system which is at present in operation ; but we are desirous to effect some improvements, and indeed some drastic changes, in our present arbitration law. We believe that penalties for striking are, in the main, not effective. They do not prevent strikes, as they occur frequently. What the labour movement desires is a system by which the organizations of the employers and the organizations of the workers can co-operate in adjusting disputes and in carrying on the industry to the advantage of the parties concerned and the public generally. We now come to the question of the method by which wages shall be adjusted. We have in New Zealand a Statistical Department. We have also a great number of Labour Department officers who are in a position to ascertain the retail prices of the necessaries of life. They could give every item of expenditure, and supply a definite statement to the Statistical Department on these prices. It should be the work of this Conference to discuss fully and, if possible, arrive at a decision as to what the commodity requirements of a family are —the amount of food which four or five people would require for a week, the clothing they would require for a year, miscellaneous expenditure (which includes small items such as life and furniture insurance, friendly-society contributions, tram fares, education, &c.), lighting and fuel, and the very important question of rent. It would then be an easy matter for the Statistical Department to ascertain what the actual cost of these commodities are. There would therefore be no bad award or good award given by the Court of Arbitration. The Court could fix the rates of pay for the workers quite easily by stating in sterling the actual cost of these commodities. To-day many workers are fleeced of half their wages in paying rent. Then we come to the Court of Arbitration itself. The labour movement has fully considered the question, and we see no reason why other methods of adjusting industrial disputes could not be put into operation. As an example, in the waterside industry provision is made for the establishment of Local Disputes Committees and a National Disputes Committee. The principle underlying these Disputes Committees is that when a dispute occurs work shall proceed in the usual way, and the question shall be referred first to the Local Disputes Committee, and, failing an agreement there, to the National Disputes Committee. Our experience of the operations of these Disputes Committees is that the work on the waterfront is continuous. The number of stoppages are very few, and if the operations of these Disputes Committees or Industrial Councils can be successful with casual labour which is employed from hour to hour, we see no reason why a similar system could not operate in other industries or in all industries. In adjusting the wages of the workers and the conditions of employment in any industry, consideration must be given to the following questions : (I) The actual capital invested in the industry ; (2) the overhead expenses, and the profits derived from the undertaking ; (3) the cost of living, and the standard of living, and the conditions of employment of the men engaged in that industry. If Industrial Councils were established, one for each industry or group of industries, they could give far more consideration to these questions than could the Court of Arbitration. This system would have a twofold advantage —namely, that the workers actually concerned in the industry would be directly represented on the Council, and the employers actually concerned in the industry would also be represented on the Council. This Council should not only concern itself with the adjusting of wages and conditions of employment, but should take into consideration the welfare of the industry generally. It would be in the interests of both parties to operate the industry in such a manner that would insure that it would be in a flourishing condition, well managed, and carried out in the most efficient manner. It would be to the interests of the parties that the marketing of the commodities produced should be carried out to the best advantage of the workers and the employers. Last, but not least, the parties interested would in time, we believe, look upon the industry from the point of view of all parties having a collective interest in it, and this would certainly be conducive to more efficiency in production. The labour movement claims that the time has arrived when the workers should be allowed some voice in the control and management of industry. At present they are accused of being irresponsible, and this no doubt is partly correct, but what is the reason ? Is it not the system itself ? The worker performs a task for a certain wage. He is given no responsibility other than the performance of that particular task. The cure for irresponsibility is responsibility, and until you allow the workers a voice in the control and management of industry this irresponsibility will be with you. In other words, if you give the worker that social and economic status to which he is entitled as one who renders a social service to the community, co-operation and efficiency will take the place of the irresponsibility which the wages system has created.

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