CASE OF COERCION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15920, 4 May 1912, Page 13

CASE OF COERCION.

DAMAGES AGAINST UNION. I [From Our Correspondent.] GREYMOUTH, May 3. i The reserved judgment of Mr _ Justice Denniston in the case of W. E. Blanche v. the Greymouth Wharf Labourers' Union was read in the Supreme Court to-day. Blanche, who ivas employed as night foreman on the local wharf by the Union Steam Ship Company, sued for £2OO damages for loss of employment occasioned by the Union demanding his dismissal within fortyeight hours of making its request. At first the Company refused the demand, but when it became evident that the men were determined and would abstain from work on the night-shift if Blanche were not removed, the Company capitulated and gavo the plaintiff a month's wages in lieu of notice. His Honor remarked that the Union's action showed a total absence of any notion of fairplay or sense of justice. Blanche was entitled to compensation as the defendants bad coerced tho Company to dismiss him so that he lost tho certainty of continuous employment. The damages were assessed at £75, with costs on the lowest scale.