TRIBUNAL DECISION IN RUNANGA DISPUTE

Grey River Argus, 24 August 1948, Page 4

TRIBUNAL DECISION IN RUNANGA DISPUTE

Department Upheld Although no official notification of the decision of the chairman, Mr A A. McLachlan, S.M., of the Tribunal set up to consider the recent dispute at Strongman and Liverpool State mines, has. yet been received in Greymouth, a Wellington paper reports the decision as follows:— “The claim of the Runanga Miners’ Union which caused the stoppage of work at the Runanga State mines was that the miners had the right to hold an unlimited number of stopwork meetings without deduction from pay, regardless of the time occupied by any or all of such meetings. , • “The Mines Department claimed, on the other hand, that the union had the right by custom to hold only a limited number of stop-work meetings each month, and that in the case of any stop-work meeting where the time exceeded one hour, the pay of the men would be deducted. “When the matter came before the tribunal, the union abandoned its original claim and virtually agreed with the case put up by the department —namely, that only a limited number of stop-work meetings should be held each month, and that pay would be deducted in any case where the time occupied on any one meeting exceeded, one hour.

“On the second issue, which was the subject of the stoppage of work, the chairman of the tribunal has made an award in favour of the department, so that the department’s claim in respect of both matters has been fully upheld by tha tribunal.”