Defiance may cost $30,000

Press, 18 May 1984, Page 4

Defiance may cost $30,000

PA Auckland The Auckland clockmaker who defied the wage freeze by giving his employees a pay rise of between $l3 and $lB a week says he fears he could be fined up to $30,000. Mr John McArthur, the owner of the Kingsland firm John McArthur, Ltd, said last evening, the Labour Department told him he might have committed six breaches of the regulations. His reading of the regulations showed he stood to be fined $5OOO on each breach. “I do not know if they could prove four of those, but even if that were so I am still looking at being fined $10,000,” he said.

“It is no good me fighting for my principles and for the rights of my workers if I have not got a business for them to work in. I might have to eat a bit of humble pie,” he said. Mr McArthur said that any compromise on his part, however, did not necessarily mean his workers would have to lose their pay rise. “I think there is a way that I can find where I can assure my employees that they will not be out of pocket in the long term,” he said. He did not elaborate. Mr McArthur said earlier in the week that a fine of $5OOO would not deter him.