§ 1. Mr. William Shepherdasked the Minister of Labour what steps have been taken to improve the machinery of negotiation in industrial disputes, particularly in securing its operation at the beginning of a dispute.
§ The Minister of Labour (Mr. Isaacs)I am continuing my examination of and discussions on this problem, but I am not in a position to make any statement at present.
§ Mr. ShepherdWould the Minister consider the question of a general inquiry into the whole system? Obviously this does not work very well in many circumstances, and something ought to be done.
§ Mr. IsaacsI do not think a general inquiry would be very helpful. It certainly would be very involved. There are about 50 wages councils. We are consulting them collectively and I am meeting their chairman. The trade agreements in the others are very wide in their scope. I hope to get the information and to take it to our advisory council shortly.