UNION ORDERS DISMISSAL

Hutt News, Volume 13, Issue 23, 15 November 1939, Page 3

UNION ORDERS DISMISSAL

$ SCHEME 13 WORKER UNION FEES UNPAID The Lower Hutt Borough Council had before it on Monday night a request from the secretary of the General Labourers' Uaion (Mr. P. M. Butler) that the council dispense with the service of a man employed on Scheme 13 on the ground that he had not paid full union dues. Th& Mayor (Mr. J. W. Andrews) informed the council that the man referred to was married and had seven children.

In September the union had called on the council to dispense with tho man's services for the same reason, and the council's officers, acting under the compulsory provisions of the union regulations, had no option but to do so. A few days later, the Hon. P. C. Webb's private secretary had made a request that the man be reinstated, and that the Minister would be personally responsible for the payment of the man's 'dues. The man was reinstated, and now again there was a request for his dismissal. The Mayor stated that there had been 78 non-unionists who had been reported and were in the same category. Some of these men had been members of at least one union, and he knew of one case where a man had been asked to pay a full year's membership dues to a third union. The General Labourers' Union had apparently endeavoured to arrange special terms with other unions in regard tp men on Scheme 13, but had been unsuccessful, and the po/sition now was made difficult for such men as members of, say, the Slaughtermen's Union or others engaged in seasonal work who could not go on Scheme 13 without paying full union dues to the General Labourers' Union. In the particular case before the* council, said the Mayor, as the Minister had not paid the man's dues, the council had no option but to dispense with his services. In the course of his letter to the council, the secretary of the union, Mr. Butler, mentioned that he had been in communication with the Minister, and that Mr. Webb had replied regretting that the man had not paid his dues. Cr. W. A. F. Hall asked what wages the man was getting, and the Mayor replied £4/10/-. Cr. Hall said that under the circumstances the man should have paid his dues, as he was also in receipt of family allowance. He moved that the letter be received and his services be dispensed with. The motion was seconded by Cr. H._ V. Horlor and carried.