Right To Dismiss Queried

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31230, 30 November 1966, Page 18

Right To Dismiss Queried

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON,

Nov. 29.

New Zealand was one of the few countries in the world where a worker could be dismissed without reason, the Arbitration Court was told today.

Mr D. G. Nolan, seeking a new award on behalf of the Clerical Workers’ Union, said it was possible for a New Zealand employer to dismiss a worker because of his religion, race, or the colour of his eyes.

The union claims that it should be possible to obtain negotiation and if necessary arbitration on a dismissal which the union alleges to have been unjustified. If a clerical worker were dismissed the employer was almost completely opposed to negotiation and arbitration, Mr Nolan Mid.

“It is clear that employers in New Zealand do not believe in conciliation and arbitration and do not support it. They use it when they fear the alternative.

“The principle of arbitration and conciliation is not sacred to employers in New Zealand, but they see their absolute right to hire and fire as sacred,” Mr Nolan said.

Mr P. J. Luxford, for the Employers’ Federation, said that an employee could also terminate his employment without giving reasons.

“Difficult Problem”

Judge Blair described the dismissal situation as a “difficult problem.” Other union claims were for a 37|-hour week, clock hours from Monday to Friday, and equal pay for men and women.

Mr Luxford said that equal pay for men and women clerical workers posed considerable economic problems on the national scale. It had "immense” financial aspects as well as social and

economic considerations, and the Court should not attempt to make a lead in this direction, he said. Many clerical duties were traditionally performed by women, and the wage rates had been set accordingly. In New Zealand there were probably thousands of awards wanting to maintain separate scales for males and females, he said.

The repercussions of equal pay would be far greater than the state of the economy could bear. Mr Luxford said the union had not attempted to prove that women would receive equal pay for work of equal value. Against Change He submitted strongly that the clerical workers should not vary the 40-hour week in favour of a 374-hour week. For many years unions had been zealously fighting to protect the 40-hour week. The employers were also trying to maintain the 40-hour week. If given a 37)-hour week there would be widespread

repercussions, which would lead to many other applications for reductions, Mr Luxford said. He foresaw serious and costly repercussions if reductions in the 40-hour week were applied to industry generally.

Shift Conditions

The Court heard submissions for the inclusion of a basic scale of shift conditions in the Clerical Workers’ Award this afternoon put forward by respondent employers of the data processing and computer Industries. The employers wanted the shift clause in the award to give them the right to work employees on shifts at any time of the day or night on any seven days of the week, as and when the need arose. The union held the view that agreements covering shift conditions could be arranged between the union and the employer. The hearing of the dispute will continue into the third day tomororw.