ARBITRATION BILL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 110, 22 April 1936, Page 9

ARBITRATION BILL

Minor Alterations Made By Committee UNION REGISTRATION By Telegraph.—Press Association. WELLINGTON, April 21. Only minor alterations to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill have been made by the Labour Bills Committee oi the House. The Bill, with amendments, was reported back to the House to-day. The amendments made by the committee deal chiefly with the registration of unions on a Dominion basis and clauses in the original Bill which sought to give compulsory preterece to unionists.

As amended the Bill provides that in the registration o£ a Dominion union members of existing unions have to be in favour of the proposal. The right to declare for Dominion registration is now to be given only to unionists engaged in the industries concerned, and not to all workers, as in the original Bill.

There is also provision for stipulations regarding the formation of Dominion unions to be extended to cover applications for registration of North Lsland unions, or unions covering two or more specified industrial districts. Restriction of employment in industries covered by awards exclusively to members of unions is also elaborated. Under the original Bill unions had to apply to the Arbitration Court for inclusion of such clauses in their awards. As an addition, the committee applies the principle of compulsory unionism to all awards automatically a month after it comes into force. However, these provisions need not, apply in cases where the maximum membership of a union is fixed in an award, and in each case employers have the right to employ non-unionists when there is no union member competent to perform the work required. Section 154 of the principal Act, restricting the operation of awards and industrial agreements to workers employed for pecuniary gain, was to have been repealed under the Bill. The committee has introduced an amendment iu this instance providing that no award oi industrial agreement shall affect the employment of any worker who is employed by a charitable or religious organisation in industry which is not carried out for pecuniary gain otherwise the fact that work is not carried out for pecuniary gain shall not restrict the application of any award or agreement to workers so engaged.