I desire to call the attention of the House to the failure or, if you like, the inaction of the Department of Industry and Commerce to intervene in a dispute which may eventuate in a lock-out of a number of Cork Corporation workmen as the result of proposals for a reduction in their wages by the City Commissioner. I do not propose at this stage to go into the merits of the dispute. My purpose is to find out what are the powers and functions of the Department of Industry and Commerce in matters of this kind. Hitherto it has been customary for that Department, when acquainted with disputes, pending or in existence, to endeavour to reconcile the differences between the employer and the employees. It has also been customary for trade unions to notify the Department of disputes pending or in existence. In accordance with the customary practice which, as I have said, hitherto obtained, the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union communicated with Mr. Ferguson, the very courteous and able Secretary of the Department, in the following terms:
A Chara,
A demand has been served by Commissioner Monahan for a drastic reduction in wages on our members employed on Corporation work in Cork City. A conference took place last Thursday between our Cork officials and Mr. Monahan, but no agreement was reached. Seeing that the workers concerned yielded to a cut of 4/6 per week in 1925, and to a further cut of 2/- in 1926, the present demand for a general reduction of 6/- is regarded with the keenest indignation, and if it is imposed a stoppage of work will be inevitable.
That letter was dated 16th April. Today the following communication was received from the Department of Industry and Commerce:
I have your note of the 16th inst., on the subject of the threatened dispute in Cork City as a result of proposals made by the City Commissioner for a reduction in the wages of Corporation workers. You can understand that this Department is not free to take action along the lines generally followed in ordinary industrial disputes owing to the fact that another Government Department, the Department of Local Government, has certain responsibilities in this matter. Any communication on the subject of the intervention on the part of this Department would have to be addressed by you in the first instance to the Department of Local Government.
(Signed) R. C. Ferguson.
The Local Government Department, in answer to communications, state that they have no responsibility in the matter and they cannot intervene. In view of the fact that Cork City is faced with a stoppage of public work without any attempts on the part of the Ministry— attempts, as I have already pointed out, which have been usual up to this—to intervene in a matter of this kind, I would ask why the usual procedure has not been followed in this matter, namely, that the Minister for Industry and Commerce or his representative should not intervene as they have been asked to do by the union representatives.