SUSPENSION ORDER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1942, Page 6

SUSPENSION ORDER

QUESTION OF VALIDITY

WOOLLEN MILL WORKERS

A case of importance, in that the decision might have industrial repercussions throughout New Zealand, is being heard by the Court of Appeal, to which the case-was removed from the Supreme Court by consent. The point is whether adult male workers on day shifts in woollen mills are entitled to recover '3s a shift, and female workers Is 6d, in addition to their ordinary wages, during the period from June, 1940, to February, 1941, and questions are raised as to the validity of a labour suspension order made by the Minister of Labour. •

The Court consists .of the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), Mr. Justice Blair, Mr/. Justice Kennedy, Mr, Justice Callan, and Mr. Justice Northcroft.

Three claims are made against the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Jens Jensen, milling room hand, claims £25 Is for 167 shifts at 3s a shift; John Salisbury Sanderson, cloth miller, £20 11s for 137 shifts; and Maggie Griffen, weaver, £11 11s for 154 shift payments at Is 6d a shift. Mr. T. P. Cleary is appearing for the plaintiffs, and Mr. F. C. Spratt for the defendant company. FULL COURT DECISION. Acting under the Labour Legislation Emergency Regulations, the Minister of Labour made a suspension order in June, 1940, suspending >the provisions of any award restricting the working of shifts in woollen mills. The order provided that * every male adult worker on shift work should receive 3s a shift in addition to his ordinary wages, and every female worker Is 6d. In December, 1940, the Full Court was asked for an interpretation of those words in a Dunedin case and decided that they meant that all workers, whether on day shift or night shift,