I have left very little time for dealing specifically with the question
of industrial relations, though much that I have said has a bearing upon
it. There has been great disappointment with the results of the Whitley
Council movement. Many thought they were going to bring in a new era.
But they have not lived up to these hopes, firstly, because they came
into being at a time of unexampled economic difficulty, and, secondly,
because they were introduced into industries where there was no
tradition of co-operative action--being established mainly in industries
lying between the entirely unorganised and the highly organised trades.
But we must persist in encouraging Whitley Councils, and still more in
the associated objective of encouraging works committees. The basis of
industrial peace is in the individual works. Co-operation cannot be
created by Act of Parliament, but depends upon the development of
opinion among employers and workmen. Starting from Works Councils up
through the Whitley Council, Trade Boards, or National Trade Union
machinery for the negotiation of wages, we arrive at the National
Industrial Council, which is the point at which the Government can most
directly assist the movement towards more cordial relations. The plan of
this Council is ready. It was proposed and developed in 1919, and I
personally do not want to change that plan very much.
But I think it is of the utmost importance that we should embody in our
Liberal programme the institution of a National Industrial Council or
Parliament representing the trade organisations on both sides. Whether
it should represent the consumers, I, personally, am doubtful. It should
be consulted before economic and particularly industrial legislation is
introduced into Parliament. It should be the forum on which we should
get a much better informed discussion of industrial problems than is
possible in Parliament or through any other agency in the country. The
National Council also needs to have specific work to do. I would be
prepared to see transferred to it many of the functions of the Ministry
of Labour, or rather that it should be made obligatory for the Minister
of Labour to consult this Council on such questions as whether it should
hold a compulsory inquiry into an industrial dispute. I would also
throw upon it the duty of advising Parliament exactly how my proposals
as to publicity are to be carried out, and would give it responsibility
for the Ministry of Labour index figures of the cost of living upon
which so many industrial agreements depend. I believe if we could set
out a series of specific functions to give the plan vitality, in
addition to the more nebulous duty of advising the Government on
industrial questions, we should have created an important device for
promoting the mutual confidence of which I have spoken.
The suggestions I have made are perhaps not very new, but they seem to
me to be in the natural line of evolution of Liberal traditions. Above
all, if they are accepted they should be pursued unflinchingly and
persevered with, not as a concession to this or that section which may
happen to be strong at the moment, but as a corporate policy, which aims
at combining the interests of us all in securing increased national
wealth with justice to the component classes of the commonwealth.