ARBITRATION BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13866, 28 September 1908, Page 5

ARBITRATION BILL.

THE AMENDED MEASURE.

LEADING PROVISIONS. [by TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT.]. Wellington, Sunday. The Arbitration Bill having now passed its final stages in the House of Representatives, the leading provisions of the amended measure as it will go to the Legislative Council may be summarised. STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS. A worker who strikes while working subject to an award is liable to a fine not exceeding £10, and any person who instigates, agists, or in any way aids this illegal action is similarly liable, if a. worker, but if it is some industrial association, trade union, or person other than a worker, then the maximum fine is £200. The onus is thrown upon any person who makes any gift for the benefit of anyone who is a party to a strike or lock-out, of proving that he acted without intent to aid tlie illegal strike or lock-out. A strike which would interfere with the supply of production of certain public utilities is prohibited under a penalty not exceeding £25 per man. The industries specified are coal gas, electricity, water, milk, meat, coal, and tramway, ferry, and railway cervices. Persons who aid and abet a strike in these special industries may be fined £25, and corporate bodies or persons other than workers £200. : A union of workers convicted of having aided and abetted a strike may, upon being lined for that offence, be suspended for a. period not exceeding two years, during which time the award applying to its members in the particular district will be inoperative. Employers guilty of locking out their men while an award is current may be fined up to £500. BREACHES OF AWARD. Cases of breaches of awards will come before the nearest stipendiary magistrate, though there ie power to take them direct to the Arbitration Court. In case of a strike or lock-out the maximum penalty in case of a worker is £10, and in case of an employers' association ■ or industrial union £100. These penalties may be recovered in the same fashion as ordinary debts, but no Court fees are payable in respect to the action. The wages over £2 earned by a married worker, widower, or widow with children, may be attached in default of payment, while the unmarried worker may be called upon to pay everything over £1 per week to satisfy a judgment for unpaid fines. Members of trade unions or employers' associations are individually liable to the extent of £5 in default of payment of a fine imposed upon the organisation. CONCILIATION COMMISSIONERS. The old conciliation boards and special boards'of conciliation are replaced by permanent conciliation commissioners, appointed for three years. An application for the services- of. the council of conciliation mu6t state the nature of the dispute, and give the names of not more than three assessors, who, together with three nominated by the other side and the conciliation commissioner (who has no vote), form the council. These assessors must have been actually engaged in the industry concerned. If some of the parties agree to accept the conciliation council's recommendations, these may be duly executed as a memorandum of consent, binding only upon those who, have signed it. Though the new Act widens the definition of worker" to include any person employed by any employer for hire or reward, it removes the .possibility which prevailed under the principal Act of domestic servants calling upon the Arbitration Court to regulate their duties, for " worker" will not include a person employed "otherwise than for the direct or indirect pecuniary gain of the employer." The Arbitration Court is constituted as before, but a change in the method of electing the assessors is provided, each union being allowed one vote for every 50 members. •