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Discipline for the unemployed young and the unruly trade unions
WE ORGANISED a Works Brigade to take in unemployed young men and women, put them in semi-military uniforms, house them in wooden barracks and teach them farming, road building, bricklaying and construction work -- generally to put some discipline into them and, most important, to get them off the streets.
But we also had to discipline those already in work, for we badly needed to establish a grip on the unions under communist control to stop their political strikes. We therefore set up an arbitration court.
In the '50s, the Australians had good industrial relations, largely thanks to compulsory arbitration procedures that kept tempers in check. At our request, they sent the permanent secretary of their ministry of labour, Harry Bland, to help us.
After the court was set up, the minister could order any major strike, especially one in essential services like public transport or public utilities, to be referred to arbitration.
Once referred, it was illegal for a union to continue the stoppage pending the outcome, and if it persisted, it would face de-registration.
Before a strike, moreover, there had to be a secret ballot, not just the show of hands at the end of a rabble-rousing speech, which I had too often seen.
OCT 4 1998
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