ADJUSTING OF DISPUTES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 136, 20 March 1948, Page 6

ADJUSTING OF DISPUTES

Revision of Conditions

Sought

REQUEST TO GOVERNMENT (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “We ask the Government immediately to-review existing provisions for adjusting disputes before they assume the stage of being ripe for action under the Strike and Lockout Regulations, and also request that more attention be given to the safety and welfare of workers in industry, and that attention be directed to insignificant penalties imposed on employers for breaches of awards and industrial laws.” These words concluded 'a lengthy resolution on industrial unrest unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Wellington, Nelson, Westland and Marlborough Labourers’ Union. The text of the resolution was made public by the secrtary, Mr P. M. Butler. The meeting also passed a resolution urging the discontinuance of what •was called the “out-of-date system adopted by the Arbitration Court, by which it groups workers covered by awards into three sections —skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled ” The.union said the present system had operated for almost 30 years as the basis of wages assessment, and arbitrary grouping was unfair and unjust. Should the practice be permitted to continue, the union would ask the Minister of Labour and the New Zealand Federation of Labour to have the terms and their application to awards clearly defined.