"INTOLERABLE." WHERE COURT AND ACT ARE IN CONFLICT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 72, 25 March 1912, Page 7

"INTOLERABLE." WHERE COURT AND ACT ARE IN CONFLICT.

DISCONTENT AMONGST EMPLOYERS. POSITION OF THE UNIONS. The comments made by Mr. Scott, the employers' representative on the Arbitration Act, in the case iv which judgment was given on Satin day, are being wid-ely discussed in the city. Grocers are lequired to conduct their business under the guidance of the Shops and Offices Act and the award in their own particular trade. Mr. Scott pointed out tliat under the award , the \ hours of drivers are 47£ liotua' per* week ; under thu Act they are 52. houra per week. Under the award stable work is unlimited ; under tht> A'jt it is restricted to on& hour per day. Under the award overtime can be worked ac required, provided overtime rates are paid. Under the Act overtime is restricted to 90 hours in the year, besides which, before overtime can be worked, a permit lias to be obtained from the Inspector of Factories (an impossible condition). Under the award the work can be spread over the twenty-four hours with proper safeguards; under the Act work must cease at 6 p.m., with the few exceptions mentioned, Mr. Scott's comment as embodied in the decision, given by Mr. Justice Sim was : "It will thus be seen that in connection with- the hours of work employers and workers are compelled in some cases to observe the hours prescribed by the award, and in others the provisions of tho Act, and that neither employer nor worker is safe from prosecution." THE EMPLOYERS' VIEW. "The poaition is quite an intolerable one from an employers' point of view," said Mr. Grenfell, eecretary of the Wellington Employers'* Association, to-day when discussing the matter with a representative of The Poet. "The Labour Department is now in a position of carrying out it 6 stated intention of /selecting from Act' or awaid the- conditions which most favour the worker* The decision of the Court means tnat thß employers are now deprived of the privileges and concessions granted them in respect to the adjustment of working conditions. For instance in the Grocers' Award provision fo made for employees being required to work on three nights in each week prior to Christmas, and on one j night in every other month of the year in order to cope with rush work. T-hese concessions have been taken away from the employers by the Act. * "In the Butchers' Award hours are fixed at, 56 per week, and wages are based on a 56 hours' week, but owing to the amendment of the Act employers have been compelled to reduce the working hours to 52 per. week, but have "Been required to pay the wages fixed by the award. The injustice of this is quite obvious to anybody. THE CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE. The cause of the trouble, Mr. Grenfell added, was the striking out of clause 6 of the Shops and Offices Act the following subsection : — "This section [which provides for a week of fifty-two houi'6] shall operate subject to the provisions of this Act and any award of the Arbitration Court. In 1910 section 3 of the Act read ; "Subject to the provisions of this Act and to any award of the Arbitration Court, a shop assistant shall not be employed . . /' The Legislature in its wisdom struck out the words "and to- any ..award of . the Arbitration Court." In the case of grocers it is claimed that the clause in its amended form works very hardly, because goods cannot be delivered after ordinary selling hours. At least, that is the attitude of the Department. The particular section reads : — "For the purpose of stock-taking or other special work, not being the actual sale of goods, working hours may, with the previous written consent of the inspector, be extended." It is submitted that if a purchase of goods is made at 5 p.m. and delivery at any distance required, it is quite impossible to go through the necessary formality of getting a permit at that hour. THE OTHER SIDE. The attitude of Labour is briefly this : That for years the Shops and Offices Act contained a proviso that conditions therein fixed were subject to the awards of the Arbitration Court, but that the proviso was construed by the Court as giving it power to impose in its award* hours in excess of the maximum prescribed by the Act. Babour objected to the construction, put upon the clause, and claimed that, whatever the legal position might be, intention of the statute was that the houra of limitation should not exceed those of the statute, and that the proviso it«efl ("subject to any award of the Arbitration Court") was inserted in the Act to make it clear that the maximum prescribed by the Act could be further reduced by the Court. Mr. E. J. Carey points out that iv the case of the Cooks and Waiters' j Union, had the Act alone operated, there ■would* have been a limit of 52 hours per week, but because of the existence of the proviso, a week of 65 hours was fixed. The bakers' strike, the same authority claimed, was partly due to a similar imposition by the Court. The butchers* award also provided for four hours in excess of the maximum fixed by tiie Act. Labour, it k said, recognises that the Court resents legislative interference, but lately, it is pointed out. the Court has le-ft out of its discisipns regulation of working hours where there is a statute governing the particular Labour condition. . "Wo «ay," Mr. Carey remarked in conclusion, "that while Parliament ehould at all tunes fix the length of the working day, still the Court, if it is to continue and not racenfc that, should be willing to reduce the hours still further where the evidence points to the need of such a reduction." On the information of Richard A. Bolland, Inspector of Factories. Frank Shaw, chemist. Wellington, was charged to-day with having committed three breaches of the Shops and Offices Act by employing bhop assistants after hours on the evenings of 23rd and 24th February last. The evidence of the inspector was that he called a-t the shop .about 10 p.m. On the Friday and found assistants working. Defendant said the inspector called shortly after 8 o'clock, and hifc story wa;> corroborated hy two other witnesses. The informations respecting the 23rd inst. were dismissed, his Worship remarking that it was necessary for the- inspector's story to be. corroborated. With regard to the information in respect to the Saturday evening, however, he considered the evidence was more satisfactory, the inspector's story being corroborated by a constable. For this offence Shaw was fined £Z, with costs (9b). Mr. Fitzgibbon, who appeared 1 for defendant, said that his client was of the opinion that he could employ his cashier after hours balancing the daily accounts. Messrs. A. L. Wilson and Co. will hold a sale of upright strand piano, household furniture and effects, at their rouins, 26, Brandou-Elieet, on iWedneflday, at 1.50 p.m.