NOT COMPULSORY

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1946, Page 7

NOT COMPULSORY

UNIONISM ON DOMINION WATERFRONT. COURT REVELATION " (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 18. The revelation that there is no compulsory unionism on the waterfront in New Zealand caused surprise in the Arbitration Court to-day and was the subject of comment by Mr. Justice Tyndall, who presided, and admissions by the advocates for both the workers and the employers that they had not realised the fact. During the hearing of claims by the Wellington Foremen, Stevedores, Timekeepers’ and Permanent Hands’ Union mention,;was made of the use of clerkfl from shipping companies on the wharf at different times, and Mr. Justice Tyndall asked what award they came under. When the reply was given that they ca'me under the Shipping Officers’ Guild, Mr. Tyndall stated that apparently there was? no compulsory unionism in waterfront work, though a 1936 amendment to the Industrial, Conciliation and Arbitration Act made unionism compulsory, where a union was governed by an award or an industrial.agreement.

“Work on the waterfront is not governed by awards or agreements, but by an’order, and, at a superficial glance, it seems there is no compulsory unionism on the waterfront, but there is a clause for preference for union labour,” he said. He added that the only law about compulsory unionism in New Zealand applied to unions governed by awards and industrial agreements, though the fact was not generally realised, and people would be surprised to know that unionism on the waterfront was not compulsory.