ALLEGED BREACH OF AWARD

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22551, 5 November 1938, Page 10

ALLEGED BREACH OF AWARD

CEAIMS AGAINST CITY M \p : FIRM MAGISTRATE RESERVES DECISION Judgment was reserved when the hearing of a claim for a penalty of £lO brought by the New Zealand Federated Footwear Trade Industrial Association of Workers (Mr K. G. Aragainst Suckling Bros., Ltd., footwear (Mr A. C. Perry), for- alleged failure ) to. pay iwagesito ah-assistant.''Vera Thompson,' •from-December 21,-1937, to-January- 6, J. 938, was resumed in the Magistrate's Court yesterday 'Befor,e Mr r G.. G. \Chisholm, S.M. The Magistrate also reserved his decision on a claim for £lO brought by Alfred James Cummings (Mr K. G. Archer) against the same company for a breach of the Footwear Trades Apprenticeship Order,. •in -that between December 23 and January 5 the defendant company had failed to pay plaintiff wages. It was contended by the defendant company that slackness in the trade was the cause of the dismissals, which were given without suggestion of reengagement. Thomas Gray Shanks, secretary of Suckling Bros.. Ltd.. said that before closing down for the period in question he had discussed with the directors shutting down the works altogether. Stocks were at their peak and their reduction constituted the main problem before normality could be attained. A sales campaign had been embarked on during December for this purpose. The Christmas shopping had been better than usual and he had been surprised to receive rush orders. The advertisement that had been inserted after Christmas had been a genuine invitation to applicants for work. The late re-engagement of some girls was due to the rebuilding of the organisation, which had not reached full production until the late autumn. To Mr Archer, witness said that of the 67 persons put off before Christmas, 59 had been re-engaged between January 5 and January 10. and five others between that date and February 9. Only three of the 67 had not been re-engaged. Advertisements for vacancies inserted in the newspapers early in January could riot be taken as meaning that former members of the staff, who had been dismissed, were in full employment. Arthur Joseph O'Brien, manager of M. O'Brien and Company, Ltd.. said

that the state of the trade at the end of last year had been deplorable. Over-importation had been the principal cause; and the increase in the tariff had made a wonderful difference. In September he had asked girls and journeywomen to volunteer to leave his factory. The stocks carried at Christmas were the largest since 1921. Ivy Amy Undine Yates, forewoman in the closing department, said that she had received instructions to put off the girls. To Mr Archer, the witness said that no mention had been made to the dismissed assistants of any particular date on which an advertisement might appear. A' number of employees called by Mr Perry said that they had been "sacked" on December 20. They had been told by Mrs Yates that vacancies might be advertised if the firm became busy. In the case of Cummings. Mr Archer said, the questions to be determined by the Court were first, the duration of the period during which the factory was closed, and second, the purpose for which the factory was closed. Evidence was given by Cummings and other apprentices that most of the machinery in their departments had been cleaned and covered by members of the staff under instruction. It had not appeared to them that this machinery had been overhauled during the holidays, which, they alleged, was the reason for the plant closing down. Joseph Albert East, managing director of the company, gave evidence that the firm relied on outside sources for the overhaul of much of "its machinery. Repairs during last Christmas had been surprisingly light. Witness also said that it was his custom to have the machinery overhauled during the Christmas holidays, partly because- he did not wish any bread-winner to suf- J fer on account of a machine being shut I down for inspection. I