ARBITRATION COURT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 22 June 1936, Page 5

ARBITRATION COURT

HUNDREDS OF APPLICATIONS RECENT INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION EXTENSION OF HOURS SOUGHT (By Telegraph—Press Association) WELLINGTON, This Day. The task of making fixtures for several hundred applications relating to hours of work in many industries made by both employers and employees all over New Zealand in pursuant of the recent industrial legislation faced the Arbitration Court when it sat today, his Honour Mr Justice Page presiding. The sitting was a special one, and the applications were filed under Section 3 of the Factories Amendment Act, 1936, and Section 20 of the I.C. and A. Amendment Act, 1936. The Court proceeded to deal with the list of applications in alphabetical order. Fixtures, said his Honour,, would be made for approximately three weeks. A little later at was the intention of the Court to see how this allotment of time pans out, and then make some further appointments. The first case called was the Wanganui Aerated Water and Ice Cream Company, which sought an extension of hours under the Factories Act. Mr C. A. Watts, of the Federated Boot Trade Industrial Association of Workers immediately raised the question of whether preference should be given to applications under the Factories Amendment Act. He contended that the Court was required by legislation to give priority to I.C. and A. Act applications. His Honour Mr Justice Page: “What do you mean by ‘required ’ ” Mr Watts: “I suggest that legislation makes it imperative for the Court to hear applications under the I.C. and A. Act first. His Honour said Section 21 of that Act stated that applications were to be dealt with as' soon as possible. . “I say,” Mr Page added, “that prior to making'these fixtures for to-day the Court held an informal discussion with certain representatives of employers and of workers with a view to formulating some plan to get through this fairly substantial amount of work that faces us, and we decided then to deal with the Factories Act applications and 1.C.. and A. Act applications concerning factories conjointly, and having disposed of that bit, then we propose to go on with other applications under the I.C. arid A. Act that do not deal with factories.” . Mr Watts: “I was not aware that the Court had already considered the matter.”

THE BASIC WAGE ORDER OF REFERENCE TO COURT HIGHER RATE THAN IN AUSTRALIA CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. “The,, order of reference given .to the Arbitration Court for its guidance in declaring the basic wage ratesdo be fixed ; under, the Industrial • Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act •indicated that the Government wanted higher rates than those that existed in Australia,” said the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, in an interview to-day. The Court, said the Minister, was required to take irito consideration the condition of industry, not the condition of any particular industry, but industry as a whole, and the basic wage for male workers must be sufficient to provode a reasonable standard of living ?or a man with a wife and three children. There must be thousands of workers not at present members of unions who could benefit by basic wage conditions, and it was to their advantage to get into unions.

The. question of appentices over 21 years being entitled to receive the basic wage was mentioned to the Minister, w'ho said he was at present investigating the position so far as it affected apprentices. All apprentices ! were not affected in the same way, as j many of them were not properly indentured. One case which had come under his.notice was that of a man 21 years of age who had been apprenticed for only, two years. Although he had been with the same firm for five years he was at- present receiving a wage of £2 a .week, and the question arose whether he was entitled to be paid the basic wage. Such cases, said the Minister, would be provided, for in the new Apprentices Bill which he intended to bring down after obtaining the views of representatives of employers and workers.., d.,njbsorlationbheE“ rihave.asinctrhav Questioned regarding the position of young people over the age of 21 years who were employed under awards but were not apprentices, the Minister' said they definitely.would be entitled to receive the basic wage.

FREEZING DISPUTE AN AGREEMENT REACHED REVERSION TO 1931 WAGE STANDARDS WELLINGTON, This Day. With regard to the freezing dispute, it was officially explained that the agreement which was reached on Saturday night provides for a reversion to wages as in the 1931 awards and agreements, subject to adjustments necessitated by the chain system of slaughtering, which was not followed in 1931. It is hoped that the Court will only have to adjust matters and clauses which may be still in dispute. The Court will be ~fesked, and parties will reserve the right to argue, whethat the industry will be worked on a 40-hour or a 44-hour week, and whether in arriving at wages payable, employers have the right to take into calculation the new legislative provision regarding holidays and so forth. The wages clauses operate from Ist July, but the other conditions from the date when the Court makes the award.