INDUSTRIAL ARBITRATION.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 65, 15 September 1908, Page 6

INDUSTRIAL ARBITRATION.

The chief amendments oif the House of Representatives' Labor Bills Committee in the Industrial- Conciliation and Arbitration Bill, were vindicated by the Honl J. A. Millar, Minister of Labor, as follows: —

Part I of the Bill, clause 3, had been altered by the omission of the words "have been in the employment,' and this was in conseqiience of v the dictum that a strike in itself was not continuous.

In clause 4, defining a lock-out, a single employer had been introduced as one able to create a lock-out.

A new clause had been added in 4a, which defines that where a, majority of the members of an industrial union strike or lock-out, it shall be deemed to be the union that strikes.

The Act had been amended so that any unions outside the Act could strike if they chose, the reason being that if a union did not take advantage of the machinery of the Act it was not considered right that they should be punished for a thing which was only an offence under the Act. A strike or lock-out under the amended Bill could only take place where an award or industrial agreement was in force.

A strike had been made a continuous offence for the purpose of aiding or\abetting, as distinct from the men whi> took^part in the strike. Therefore, so long as a strike was in pro-' gress any person aiding or abetting was liable to the penalties under the Act. ;

The penalty clause (three months' imprisonment) in regard to striking without three weeks' notice, where such striko was connected with the necessaries of life, had been struck out, and a fine imj)osed in lieu thereof, the 21 days' notice being reduced to 14 days. This .meant that 14 days' notice must be given of intention to strike, in these industries, if the employees wished to be exempt from the operations of the clauses. In the portion of the Bill dealing with the suspension of a tinion, a provision had been added that the court may limit the' suspension of an award to any portion of an industrial district. If, therefore, half a dozen men struck in some remote part of a district, instead of the award being nullified over all that district, it would apply to only the portion of the district in which it occurred.

The clause directing the deduction by employers from the wages of em-. ployees of fines for. previous breaches "of awards had been struck out, and substituted • enabling the court to attach wages above £1 a ..week in the case of a single man, and £2 a week in the case of a married man.

- The whole of Part 111. of the Act had been materially altered. Conciliation Boards had been done away with absolutely, the magistrate disappearing as chairman, and two conciliation commissioners; being appointed,' brie for the North and one for the South Island. They would be permanently employed for three years, and would receive an annual salary to be appropriated by Parliament. On the notification of a dispute the commissioner would immediately proceed to the place where the dispute had occurred, and would go into the matter himself first to determine the merits of the case, and would thereafter call upon the unions to appoint three men from either side to act as assessors. The commissioner had no vote, and no power to make any award. It must be pure conciliation between the representatives of both sides who would have the power to vote. They must mutually agree upon a point, and only the points agreed upoii could be embodied in the award drawn up by the commissioners. Such award would have all the force of an award made by the Arbitration Court. The agreement would be considered to be duly entered into when signed by the officers of the union and by employers representing the majority of the workers engaged in the industry affected. If such signatures had not' been appended within one month of the award being made, the case would be sent on automatically to the Arbitration Court without either of the parties having to take the initiative. The clerk of awards would only send forward to the court such matters "as had not been settled between the parties, instead of sending forward whole cases to be .dealt with do novo as

hitherto. It was anticipated this would abbreviate ver^. considerably the work of the Arbitration Court, whilst further safeguarding the principle of pure conciliation in the first proceeding. In his report to the court, the commissioner w^s required to give an indication to the court, as to whether a settlement was prevented by unreasonable action on either side. His report must be duly filed with the clerk of awards. These amendments followed the lines adopted in older ooiintries, where the Board of Trade appointed a chairman to the Conciliation Board, the difference here being that commissioners were appointed permanently for three years. -

Provision was made that, at any time between the reference of the case to,' and; the .-hearing; of the case by, the court,/the parties may come to an agreement, which should have the same effect as if entered into prior to the case being referred to the court.

The section in the Bill increasing the number of members required in a workers' union before it could register to 25 was amended, the number being reduced to 15. Similarly, the number of employers required in the Employers' Association before it could register was reduced from 7 to 3.

Clause 51, requiring a typewritten copy of the award to be posted up in any factory or 'building 1 where the industry was going on, was amended to exempt any building in course of construction.

Section 53 stated that where un-der-rate permits were granted they should only be granted to persons whose usual employment had been in the trade in respect of which the permit wasgranted. This was to prevent abuses, as in the past. Section 57, providing for a needs and exertion wage, was struck out. Section 60, referring to expert assessors, was struck out, and power was left in the hands of the court to call for assessors, as in the principal Act. if it desired, " instead of its being mandatory upon the court to do so. New clauses havebeen inserted providing that when any amendment of the law in regard' to hours of labor is made it should not become operative Until the date when the award of the court expired, after which the law would come into operation, and any future award should be in-, conformity with the latv'J Another newclause enabled the court, when it judged that a deliberate attempt was made to delay a settlement in order to gain time and put off the payment of higher wages, to make its award date back. The definition of worker had been made the same as in last year's Bill — viz., that a "worker is any person who works for hire or reward."

j Another new clause provided that ,-every. award of the court should only apply to- employers or workers when -working directly or indirectly for pecuniary gain. Thus,: where a man was, casually employed at some class of Avork, such as gardening', not for the employer's pecuniary gain, neither party should be liable to prosecution for a breaebjof an award. This clause would also apply to domestic servants in private houses, but not where lodgers were kept;