PLENTY OF WORK

Evening Post, Issue 86, 8 October 1936, Page 10

PLENTY OF WORK

AFTER BASIC WAGE CASE

COURT OF ARBITRATION

QUESTION OF RELIEF

Even should nothing more come to hand —which will not be the case—the Court of Arbitration, comprising Mr. Justice Page and Messrs. W. Cecil Prime and A. L. Monteith, will find any amount of work stored up in Wellington on the Court's return here later in the month from the West Coast. It would appear from inquiries made today that the position even now is that, there is more than sufficient work awaiting attention to keep the Court engaged here right up to the Christmas and New Year vacation. In point of fact, the view taken is that, unless perhaps there is. some action by the Legislature with a view to affording some relief; the Court is likely to find itself unable to deal with the work that has piled up of recent months before the holidays begin. - Present arrangements provide for the Court sitting in Wellington on October 19 \ and succeeding .days to determine the basic rates of wages for male and female workers, and for industrial matters and compensation cases to be taken immediately afterwards. The estimate of the time that will be taken to deal with the basic rates of wages is from seven to ten days, so that, if this is so, the Court will not be in a position to handle the compensation and industrial cases until either the end of October or the beginning of November. That will leave probably something under eight weeks to dispose of the considerable volume of other business, which it is said is likely to be even more formidable by the time the Court is ready to. take it. THE PRESENT POSITION. Inquiries today showed that there are at the present time roughly. 40 compensation cases set down for hearing, and it is thought that they, possibly will take from fifteen to twenty days to deal with. Then there will be a considerable number of industrial disputes, the amendments to the industrial laws this session having led to various branches of industry seeking new awards. So far eight. Dominion disputes have been referred to the Court for hearing, and nine local disputes. They are all ready for hearing. Besides these there have been filed 31 local disputes and 12 Dominion disputes. Quite a number of these have been heard by conciliation councils, and 'others will have been heard before the Court sits, 'so that the present list of industrial disputes which are ready for hearing will have grown by the time the Court is in a position to consider them. In addition to the compensation cases and industrial matters, there have been filed two cases on appeal from the Magistrate's Court and various applications to the number of 30 to add parties to awards in cases where objections have been made, to strike out parties to awards, and also to amend, the provisions of awards and apprenticeship orders. A NEW APPLICATION. One unusual application, the first of its kind filed in Wellington, and which probably will be the first to be heard inJtfew Zealand, is for .tfie,extension. of, an award so ■as to , join- .and bin,d as parties trade unions, industrial unions, industrial associations, and, employers engaged in the industry in the area covered by the award without giving the unions or employers personal notice of the , application. Much interest, it is stated, is being taken in this application, which is made under section 23 of the I.C. and A. Amendment Act, 1936, the object of which section, the Minister of Labour explained in June, is to enable the parties to an award where the award is. binding on a majority of the employers concerned in the district to which it relates, to i apply to the Court to have the award extended to cover all employers in the industry and district without any necessity for their being specifically cited as parties to the award. Provision is made, however, that where an order to this effect is made, the Court may grant total, or partial exemption to any employer on application within a month afterwards though the award must be complied, with pending the Court's decision. A RELIEVING JUDGE? The foregoing brief summary gives an indication of the work awaiting the members of the Court on their return to Wellington. It is no secret that trade union officials in Wellington are exercised in mind over delays which they contend have already taken place as a result of the pressure of work the Court has been facing for some-months past, and this has led to the opinion having been expressed that some measure of relief is not only desirable but necessary. As reported previously in "The Post" they have put forward the suggestion of the setting up of something in the nature of a temporary Court. When the matter was referred to today in another quarter it was suggested that the wofk of the Court of Arbitration might well be divided into two sections, namely, industrial matters and compensation cases, and that the I.C. and A. Act be amended to permit of another Judge hearing the compensation cases. It was contended that this suggestion need not necessarily involve the appointment of a new Judge. Mr. Justice Page and Messrs. Prime and Monteith, it was suggested, could be left tc- handle the industrial matters and when circumstances warranted it, as at present, a Judge of the Supreme Court Bench could deal with the compensation cases. The opinion was expressed that there was not a sufficient number of compensation cases to warrant a second Judge, being engaged on such work permanently, but it was thought that if some such provision could be made whereby a Judge of the Supreme Court could be made available when required to deal with compensation work it would result in the present situation being eased and the hearing of cases being greatly expedited.