is put in for lads who are learning the trade, and who, it is urged, should receive proper instruction instead of being allowed to pick up information in a hap-hazard manner.
Then, item by item, the statement is gone through by one of the employers’ delegates. He agrees to some of the items, but opposes others. He controverts the assertions of the other side. The industry, he affirms, cannot afford to pay higher wages; it is suffering from the effects of importations from other countries, where labour is cheap; foreign competition is keen; the local industry is heavily handicapped even under existing conditions; it cannot stand the strain of further disabilities; the workers are treated very well; their demands are exorbitant, absurd, or extortionate; and so on.
Witnesses for both sides are examined and cross-examined. This stage of the proceedings generally occupies a great deal of time, owing, to a large extent, to the duplication of evidence and the inexperience of the examiners. The chairman is not strict, and does not insist on an observance of the ordinary rules for taking evidence. When the evidence is concluded, delegates for both sides sum up, much on the same lines as those taken in addressing the Board.
The Board may at once sit privately to consider what recommendation it should make; it may postpone its recommendation pending a possible settlement of the dispute by arrangement; or it may appoint a committee of its members to endeavour to promote that object. If a mutual arrangement is come to, it is embodied in an “industrial agreement,” which is forwarded to the Court, and is given the same force as an award.
But if all attempts to bring about an agreement fail, the Board takes the dispute in hand. It deals with each item separately, and makes a recommendation. It simply recommends the parties to adopt its decision as an equitable adjustment of the case. The recommendation sets forth the period during which the settlement proposed should remain in force. That period must not be less than six months or more than three years. If both parties accept the recommendation it becomes law. If either party is dissatisfied with the Board’s recommendation
