Breach of Fur Award

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 4

Breach of Fur Award

A Christchurch employer who notified his staff of the dates of their annual Christmas holidays, then a month before the holiday, extended the close-down by a week, has been held by the Arbitration Court to have been in breach of the Fur Workers’ Award. ' In a reserved decision, the Court said that the case was important because of its general application. The Court imposed a nominal penalty of $lO on the defendant employer, David Langley, Ltd. Evidence was given at the hearing in Christchurch on June 11 that in August last year the company posted a notice on the factory notice board advising staff that the annual holiday close-down would be from December 22 to January 12. The company amended the notice about December 8 by altering the date for resumption of work from January 12 to January 19. The Court, comprising Judge D. S. Castle and Messrs D. Jacobs and T. R. Weir, said that it was hot open for the defendant, having established that the annual holiday for 1983 was for a set period, to decide unilaterally to change that fact because of some potential difficulty he might experience with fur material not arriving. The case, was brought by the Canterbury Clothing Trades Union, which was represented by its secretary, Mr H. McCrory, at the hearing.

The union also alleged that two employees were underpaid, but the Court dismissed these actions for lack of proof.. ?