Australia is again suffering from a confused and con- fusing
dockers' strike. It is extremely inopportune, for now is one of the busiest times of the year for the export of Australian produce. . The pretext of the strike was a dispute as to whether the dockers should be engaged at one fixed hour or " pick up," or at either of two " pick ups." -But as usual the pretext screens a much larger issue. It is the old' question of arbitration over again. Compulsory arbitration was .a decided failure—disliked almost- equally by both-sides--and last June the Federal Government carried an amending law. As a result various disputes between the employers and the Waterside Workers' Federation were submitted to the Common- wealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. The Court, incidentally, decided in favour of two "pick ups" and the awards were accepted.
Previous page
