ARBITRATION ACT

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 63, 11 September 1915, Page 9

ARBITRATION ACT

PROPOSALS FOR AMENDMENT SEAFARING ORGANISATIONS. Proposals for the amendment of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act in several important particulars were unanimously adopted at the recent session of the Executive Council of the Federated Seamen's Union of New Zealand. A Poet reporter yesterday obtained from the general secretary of the union (Mr. W. T. Young) information regarding these proposals. The first proposal adopted by the council was : > Thai, in view of the inconvenience caused the organisation of seamen, with a floating membership at all port* in the Dominion, by the present law in having to register a separate industrial union in each district, and subsequently 'an association to make a Dominion body, the Minister for Labour be requested to amend the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act co that in the case of the seafaring industry it will be permissible for an organisation engaged m any branch of the industry : (a) To register in New Zealand one in due trial union under one code of rules, with the legal power of operation in ,all port* of the Dominion; (b) the-indus-trial union so registered "to be empowered by law to form a branch of the union at any seaport in the Dominion, and upon the Registrar being notified officially by the union ,o| the formation of a branch he shall, issue a certificate to the branch that it is part of a registered union ; (c) the 'Union to have the sole power to' move the machinery of the law respecting an industrial dispute in any port of the Dominion, and any award or industrial or other agreement shall be between the union and the employers, all branches to be bound by all the terms and condi-' tions of any such award or agreement; (d) with the approval of the union, a branch to be empowered to move the machinery of the law to enforce any award or agreement, and the union to possess similar power; (c) in an industrial dispute by any 6uch registered union, with not less than two branches in New Zealand, spread over not less than two of the main ports, Dunedin, Lyttelton, Wellington, and Auckland, the Arbitration Court to be empowered to J make an award to apply over the whole of the Dominion. In explanation of this suggested amendment, Mr. Young said the membership of the Seamen's Union was a floating one, operating at every seaport in New Zealand every day in the weel^. Yet they were compelled by law to register a separate union in each district where they desired to enforce award conditions. In order to get, what might be termed a national organisation they had_ to bind the unions into the organisation termed In" the Act an "industrial association.'" "We think that the law, as it affects the seafaring man, is altogether too cumbersome. It was evidently passed originally more to meet the requirements of the shore trade unions than the seafarers. As the result of experience, we think it requires alteration so as to allow a seafaring body of workers to register one union. We do not suggest at all that this shall be mandatory to any union; on the contrary, it would be quite optional for any other union of seafarers, besides our own, to use it or leave it alone, just as it thinks proper; but in our case we are extremely anxious to obtain it. The law at present in regard to Dominion awards, is that the Arbitration Court has the power to make a Dominion award to cover only those districts in which the union of the industry is registered. There are seven districts, and we have a union registered in the Southland_ and Otago, Wellington, and Northern districts. There, are four districts — Taranaki, Westport, Marlborough and Nelaon, and Canterbury, in which we have no power of legal operation, and in which the Court has no power, to apply the award." The next proposal is : That the Act be amended so as to provide that, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any industrial agreement, where > there -exist ,in the same locality in the same industrial district two or more industrial unions of workers engaged in the same industry and parties to the sajne industrial agreement with an employer or employers domiciled only in the district in which the agreement is made, the employer or employers in employing labour shall not discriminate between the members of either union, and shall, in the engagement 6r, dismissal of workers, do nothing for the purpose of injuring either union — maximum penalty to be £100. Cases have arisen, it is explained, where there have been two registered unions of the same industry in one locality and bound by the same agreement, yot the employers distinctly favoured the membership of one_ union. If discrimination is stopped, it is contended, the victimisation which has been experienced at Auckland, Greymouth, and other ports during the past two years will be absolutely overcome. Ii i* furtii** iux»d i TtaaA ifa* m»m>

bership <of each union registered under the Act shall be open to each qualified person of good character on payment of the entrance fee prescribed under the rules of the union, providing that he gives not less than three days'' notice in writing of his desire to become a member, but this shall_ not bar the union from relaxing the period of notice if it 'so desires. "Many cases have arisen recently," said Mr. Young, "where men, admittedly persons of first-class character, have applied for membership in certain unions, and have been refused admission, notwithstanding that they were thoroughly qualified and quite competent' to undertake the work required of them. It is the chief principle of all bona fide trade unions to leave the door of membership open to any qualified man of good character, and if the rules of various trade unions of New Zealand are investigated it. will be found that this is so. Certain unions, which may be called mushroom growths, have laid it down in their rules that if a man is a member of some political organisation, or if he holds certain political views, that shall be a bar to membership. "Instructions were given by the executive council that these proposals should be placed before the Minister for Labour; but we recognise that Mr. Massey, who holds the Labour portfolio, has been busy recently in connection with national matters, and has had pretty well the whole of his time occupied. We did not desire to intrude on that important business, but now that a great deal of the work has been done, in all probability an opportunity will be taken to lay these matters before him in the course of a week or so by deputation."