PAYMENT BY RESULT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 23 August 1927, Page 5

PAYMENT BY RESULT

ARBITRATION LAW TO BE AMENDED

CONSTITUTION OE COURT

THREE SUPREME COURT JUDGES

Important.and far-reaching changes in the Industrial, Conciliation and Arbitration Act are expected to be proposed in the amending Rill which will he play-, td be,fore Parliament this session, says the “Dominion.” .The measure is still under consideration by the Government, and while, no official information, is available as to the exact nature of the changes contemplated there are grounds for believing that the Bill will provide for a change in the constitution of the Arbitration Court, and for payment, by result, and on the piecework principle, with a- fixed minimum Weekly wage based on the amount which the average worker in the industry concerned might earn under the piecework system. It is said that if the Bill contains a clause providing for payments by' result and the fixing of the minimum wage in the maimer suggested, it will meet with the approval of the Labour Opposition in Ihe House.

BENCH TO COMPRISE TIT REE

JUDGES

'The alteration expected to’ he made in regard to the, present constitution of the Arbitration Court is the substitution of three Judges of the Supreme Court for the one Judge and two assessors (one representing the employers and one the employees) as now obtains. The object of this alteration would appear to be that three independent; Judges are considered more likely to hold the balance between Capital'ahd, Labour. With the disappearance of the assessors, the power of the Court; iti: its inquiries when dealing with a dispute may be extended to enable it' v jo call additional evidence, and,' if necessary, to consult experts in the industry affected. A further extension .. of the scope of the Court, which may be made, is the throwing on it of the- onus-of determining the ability of an industry to pay the wages proposed. The Bill, it is expected, will not propose abolition of the preference to unionists clause, but provision may bo made for preference by consent. That is, that both parties to an industrial dispute wili have to agree that the unionists shall be preferred when there are vacancies, before the clause will be included in the award. Indications are not- lacking, however, that at an..appropriate juncture opponents to preference will make an effort to have it abolished altogether. (Comments from Auckland' and Christchurch on the proposed amendments appear on page 7.) ",