MIXED-UP UNIONS LATE STRIKE AFTERMATH

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 78, 2 April 1914, Page 7

MIXED-UP UNIONS LATE STRIKE AFTERMATH

A PUZZLING SITUATION RESTS ON PROSECUTIONS. WILL THE DEPARTMENT ACT? Is the Labour Department going to prosecute the unions or unionists working under Arbitration Court awards who went out on strike in November last, and thus committed a breach of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act? The question is one which raises some very important issues, and the decision of the Department is awaited with the keenest interest, not only by the offending unions but also by the employers and the new unions which were formed to replace several of the Arbitration bodies, which, though unaffiliated, responded to the call of the Red Federation, If the Department decides to proceed, the prosecutions will comprise the biggest batch that have yet been launched at any one time within the history of New Zealand, no less than eighteen Arbitration unions, with some 8000 to 9000 members, being involved. If, on the other hand, the Department decides not to take action, the following issues, it is contended, will demand an immediate solution : (1) What is the use of imposing penalties under the Arbitration Act when 1 they are not enforced ? (2) What is to be the fate of the new unions which were formed to replace the Arbitration unions which went out on strike? From enquiries made by a Post representative to-day, it would appear that the latter question is at present gravely troubling both the employers and the members of the old and new unions alike. At least three bodies of workers are affected, viz., the Wellington drivers, the Auckland hotel workers, and the Christchurch drivers. In all three cases dual arbitration unions — those which went out on strike and those which were formed subsequently— exist, and the puzzling situation is created as to^which unions hold the field. No one seems to know, and, as a result, hopeless confusion prevails, the employers not knowing which union to deal with, and the men being equally in the dark as to which union they are to pay _ their subscriptions. Some of the Wellington drivers, it is stated, have solved the riddle for themselves by declining to pay into either union until they know where they are. If the Labour Department decides to take proceedings against the old unions for striking, and secures convictions, the position will be much simplified, as it is provided under section 10 of the Industrial Conciliation " and Arbitration Act, 1908, that the Court may suspend the registration of offending unions for any period not exceeding two years, such suspension to have the effect of cancelling any rights during the period of suspension such unions would otherwise have had under the Act. Applications haVe_ already been lodged for the^ suspension of the old unions, and it is stated that on the granting of the requests the way will thus be made clear for the new bodies, . which will then be the only unions possessing any standing in the eyes of the law. If the Department is to take action, however, and thereby solve the situation, it will require to act promptly. Under the Act it is provided that a prosecution in case of a_ strike cannot take place aftei 1 the expiration of six months from tho date of the cause of action. In the present instance five months have elapsed since the first union went on strike, bo that only another month remains in which to institute proceedings. Meanwhile the employers are complaining that while several of their number have been prosecuted by the Department for refusing to give preference to members of the old unions under the Arbitration Court^ awards, the Department has so far failed to take any action against the Arbitration unions or any of their members who went out on strike.