APPEAL ALLOWED

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 37, 7 November 1933, Page 2

APPEAL ALLOWED

Chain Stores Society May Register SEPARATE UNION POSSIBLE An appeal from the refusal of the Registrar of Industrial Unions to register the Wellington Chain Grocery Stores Society as an industrial union of employers, has been allowed by the Court ot Arbitrationuin a judgment delivered by Mr. Justice Frazer. The case camo before the court on October 11), and was argued at considerable length. The appeal was made on (he grounds that, owing to the diversity to interests, it was more convenient for the society's members to register separately than to join the Wellington Master Grocers’ Industrial Union of Employers. Mr. W. J. Mountjoy appeared for the appellants, and Mr. M. J. Reardon for the grocers’ union. The appeal was opposed by the Wellington Grocers’ Union of Employers on the grounds (a) that a multiplicity of unions was undesirable, and that the proprietors of the chain grocery stores could conveniently become members of the existing union, and (b) that no sufficient diversity of interests existed to justify the registration of another union of master grocers hi the district. “It is to be noted,” his Honour said, “that while the general provisions of the Act are substantially the same for the registration of a union of employers as for a union of workers, the effect of registration is entirely different in the case of an employer and in the case of a worker. A single employer can initiate a dispute in an industry, and he can similarly be made a party to a dispute, while a worker cannot initiate or be a party to a dispute, but. can come within the jurisdiction of a Conciliation Council or of the court only by virtue of the existence of a union of workers. The same necessity for restricting the < number of unions in the same trade anil in the same locality does not therefore exist in the case of employers as in the case of workers. “Furthermore, the Act permits any incorporated company to register as an industrial union of employers, and the registrar has no power to refuse registration in such a case. -There. is nothing to prevent the limited liability companies comprising the membership of the appellant society from applying individually for registration as industrial unions, which could afterward amalgamate into one union, or, if they preferred to do so, form an industrial association. , ~, “On the merits of the appeal, while mere trade rivalry is not in itself proof of a sufficient diversity iOf. interest to justify separate registration, it appears that in the present case there has been an extension of trade rivalry into the field of industrial relations. This circumstance affords a sufficient ground for holding that such a diversity of interest exists as to render it impossible for the members of the appellant society conveniently to become members of the existing master grocers’ union. Furthermore as has already been indicated, it is futile to withhold registration from the appellant society when, by making, use or other provisions of the Act, it could indirectly attain its object.”