8 SEPTEMBER 1939, Page 2

Labour Agrees to Control The acceptance by the Labour Party

of the Government's Control of Employment Bill is reassuring. The many adjustments which had to be improvised in the last war to secure the dilution and proper distribution of labour caused serious friction. All this is likely to be guarded against in advance by the co-operation of the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party's ready compliance in Parliament. The need is that the whole of our industrial man-power should be so organised to avoid undue competition for labour and to facilitate the drafting of the right men to suitable jobs. Trade union rules will have to be relaxed to permit of dilution of skilled with unskilled labour. Mr. Ernest Brown disarmed criticism by promising that voluntary industrial machinery would be used to the utmost, and that the organisation of employers and employees should be consulted before action was taken under the Bill. Some difficulty and friction is inevitable, but the spirit in which the situation is being faced will reduce them to the minimum.