ARBITRATION BILL

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21746, 31 March 1936, Page 12

ARBITRATION BILL

APPLICATION OF 40-HOUR WEEK TEN PER CENT. CUT MAY BE RESTORED A COiMPENSATION COUNT LFrom Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, March 30. Important details of his Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill were mentioned by the Minister for Labour (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong), when outlining to-day the way in which the 40-hour week will be applied to industry generally, This bill has been approved by a caucus of Government members, and will come before the House early. Mr Armstrong also,discussed the possibility of a general order restoring the 10 per cent, cut in salaries and wages enforced in 1931. He said that he had drafted proposed amendments to the Workers Compensation Act which would enable the Government to appoint a special court to deal with compensation cases if tha necessity arose. There was to be no stroke of the pen enforcing the 40-hour week in all industries, Mr Armstrong said. The procedure would be for an application to be made by each union when it approached the court for a new award, and unless the employers could prove that a 40-hour week would involve hardship to their particular industry, that provision would be included. Powers of the Court There would be power for the court to vary the duration of the working week. In some cases a 48-hour week was worked at present, and if the court held that a 40-hour week would be impracticable it would still have power to reduce the number of hours from 48. If the court decided not to apply the 40-hour week to any particular industry, it would have to set out its reasons in detail in each case. The Minister made it clear that where workers were oaid on an hourly basis, they would not suffer through the reduction of the working week to 40 hours. Increases would be made in hourly rates, so that each worker would earn ■as much in a week of 40 hours as under the hours he worked at present. Another point was that the preference clause in all awards would be made absolutely compulsory. All adult workers in an industry covered by an award would have to be members of the particular union concerned, and no evasion would be permitted.

Mr Armstrong said the bill would probablv be referred to the Labour Bills Committee, and various other amendments might be made. For instance, his present intention was to fix a basic wage, which was the subject of one clause in the bill, on the requirements of a man, his wife, and two children. Another suggestion had been made to him about this, and it was quite possible that an alteration might be made. Restoration of Wages On the question of restoring all salaries and wages to the 1931 level, the Minister said that in many cases full restorations had already been made. However, some* industries which could well afford restorations had not granted them. The general order enforcing the 10 per cent, cut had taken the form of a clause in a finance bill. Similar action could be taken in framing a general order for restoration, or a short bill could be brought down. Provision for restoration of the cut was not made in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill, as delay might be occasioned. In addition, the matter had still to be considered finally by the Cabinet. The proposed establishment of a special compensation court was not included in the main bill, the Minister continued. The probable course to be taken would be the framing of an amendment to the Workers Compensation Act empowering the Government to appoint an additional court by order-in-council if the circumstances warranted it. Mr Armstrong indicated that his present proposal was for a compensation court similar in personnel to the present Arbitration Court. His earlier suggestion of a court comprising a judge, a doctor, and a workers' representative, had been only tentative. The Minister also said that the Government would have power to appoint additional Conciliation Commissioners if necessary. It was quite possiblethat with the introduction of a 40hour week and a basic wage, more cases would be settled by conciliation proceedings, and that tffere might not be such a rush of applications to the court.

Mr Armstrong paid tribute to the cooperation he had received from representatives of both the employers and the employees in framing his legislation. Many incidental proposals, he said, were not yet definite. .