ARBITRATION COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13451, 30 May 1907, Page 5

ARBITRATION COURT.

RECENT DECISIONS STRONGLY CRITICISED. , ■ , "IGNORING WELL-ESTABLISHED • : . PRECEDENTS." ' ■■: .A. attended meeting of members of the. Auckland Provincial Employers' Association was held yesterday afternoon in the { offices of the.association, 58,. Queen-street,' for the purpose of considering the possible j result of some of the recent rulings and awards given by the Court of Arbitration in this and other industrial • districts. ;:: Much . regret. and .. disappointment was freely expressed at. the attitude of the present Court in having disregarded the wise judgments and rulings of previous Courts, and especially so in regard to the enforcement of the principle of payment of weekly wages in cases where only part-services have been rendered, and wherein the. award provides liberally for overtime. . ■•... The following resolution war unanimously adopted: — That this meeting expresses Its regret that the Arbitration Court, in some of its recent decisions, has' ignored previous well-cstao-lisheu precedents, in that at Westport it decided to hear a case for breach of award which was not placed before it in proper form that at Gisborne. at the instance or the Painters' Union, it fined an employer for breach of award in a case which had been previously settled by the Labour Department; and that, in connection with the lelt hatters' award at Dunedin, and the typographical award at "Wellington, it gave niter- j pretations involving weekly employment in; these industries, as against the established; custom of payment only for actual time worked. That the matter be referred. to the advisory board ol' the New Zealand Employer*' Feneration for its careful consideration.