ARBITRATION COURT

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 November 1929, Page 5

ARBITRATION COURT

WATERSIDERS’ CRITICISM. The annual Conference of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federa- ' tion held at Greymouth, appointed a Committee to inquire into the wages data submitted by the employers of waterside labour and the Waterside Workers’ Federation to the Court of Arbitration during the hearing of the recent waterside workers’ dispute. The committee fully investigated this data, and presented a report to the con-i ference on Wednesday, when the following resolutions were unanimously carried :— “(1) That this annual meeting of. delegates of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federation, representing 600 waterside workers throughout N.Z. enters a most emphatic protest against the unjust basic wage awarded to waterside workers by Mr Justice Blair while acting as President of the Court of Arbitration. The wages data submitted to the Court of Arbitration by the Federation and the employers of waterside labour clearly indicated that the workers engaged in this industry were entitled to a substantial increase in wages, but it seems that the Judge and the employers’ representative on the Court completely ignored the. wages data submitted both by the employers’ representative and by the workers’ representative. “The Conference also protests against the action of Mr Justice Blair and the employers’ representative, Mr Schmidt, in refusing to adopt the principle laid down by Mr Justice Frazer in 1924, when fixing the wages fot waterside workers. If this basis were adopted, the Court would have been compelled to award an , increase in wages to the men engaged in the work of loading and discharging ships. It was only by the violation of the pnn ciple laid down in 1924 that the waterside workers were robbed of the increase in wages which they were entitled to receive. “Further, the delegates, after reactinw the memorandum of the Judge in the Court of Arbitration with reference to the basis of fixing wages, and particularly the wages of waterside workers, are unanimously of the opinion that the trade union movement oi this country cannot any longer have confidence in the Court of Arbitration. “As justice had been denied to the waterside workers by the Court of Arbitration, we call upon the Government to institute immediately a special inquiry to investigate the hours worked and wages earned by waterside workers throughout the Dominion, in order that these workers may obtain the rates of pay of which they have been unjustly deprived by the Court of Arbitration. “(2) That this Conference of delegates representing the waterside Workers’ Unions throughout the Dominion, after investigating fully the wages data submitted by the Waterside Workers’ Federation, and the wages data submitted by the employers oi waterside labour, considers it their duty to inform the waterside workers throughout New Zealand that they are entitled to a substantial increase in the basic wage, and that the refusa of the Court of Arbitration to grant this increase in wages was a travesty of Justice. We are of the opinion (hat the unjust award given by the Court will create discontent in the industry, for which the Court of Arbi tration is solely responsible. ’