SHOP ASSISTANTS

Evening Star, Issue 21505, 1 September 1933, Page 11

SHOP ASSISTANTS

ARBITRATION COURT DECISION In ' the dispute between the Otago and Southland Amalgamated Society of Shop Assistants (other than butchers’, grocers’, chemists’, tobacconists’, and hairdressers’ assistants) Union _ of Workers and Employers, the Arbitration Court has promulgated an order fixing the rates payable to female shop assistants according to the schedule set out in the Shops and Offices Act, 1921-22. In a memorandum the court states; It is doubtful whether the Legislature intended an order under section 7 (5) of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1932, to be made in cases in which no award or industrial Agreement had previously been in operation. However, the reference in that subsection to a notification under subsection (4) relates to a notification under subsection (3), and such a notification must be given in all cases in which a settlement of a dispute is not arrived at, whether an award or industrial agreement has therefore been in existence or not. The court therefore considers that an order should be made, if applied for, without any regard being had to the existence or non-existence of an award or industrial agreement immediately before the creation of the dispute. The court is confirmed in this view by reason of the fact that, if the contrary view were taken, it would not be com petent for a new order to be made nn tier subsection (5) in a case coming under subsection (4), in which an order had been previously made. There is nothing in the language of subsection (5) to indicate that the Legislature intended that only one order should be made in a case coming under subsection (4), and that upon its expiration all regulation of wages of female workers should cease; and such a construction is not in accordance with the general tenor of the legislation. It therefore follows that, whether an application under subsection (5) following upon a notification under subsection (3), is or is not accompanied by the' canceHation-of an existing award or industrial agreement, the court is required to make an order. In the present case, the court had no evidence before it on which to assess a scale of wages, and accordingly adopted the rates set out in The Shop and Offices Act, 1921-22.