WATERSIDERS’ UNION

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 May 1934, Page 2

WATERSIDERS’ UNION

RIGHT OF EXCLUSION. [PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] ■ WELLINGTON, May 15. • Whether an amendment to one of the rules of the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union, purporting to give power to exclude a person from membership at the discretion of the Executive is intra vires or not. was the substantial question raised in a case before Mr Justice Reed in the Supreme Court to-day. The action was one in which William Henry Hargreaves sought the assistance of the Court to obtain admission as a member of the defendant Union. He claimed, in addition, £5O damages for wrongful deprivation of employment. James Roberts, Secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federation, said the average waterside worker, from January to the end of April, would earn £2 10/- to £2 15/- a week. Personal ability always had a connection with earnings, but ability to get work depended a great deal upon the amount of work that the company which employed a man regularly had in hand at any particular period. There was no award or industrial agreement at the present, time, except an understanding by parties as to the rates of pay and the conditions of employment. His Honor: Then, from the Union’s point of view, there is nothing to prevent any man being employed whether he is a member of the Union or not.

Mr Roberts: There is no legal preference, but. I think I ought, to say that, owing to an understanding which exists, the employers do, as a rule, give preference to our members. The employers and the waterside workers have an understanding that the industry cannot carry any more men. Legal argument was addressd to the Court on the question of law, and, at the conclusion of the case His Honor intimated that he would take time io consider his decision.