FARM WAGES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22544, 8 October 1936, Page 14

FARM WAGES

MARRIED COUPLES VARIATIONS OF LAW WARNING TO FARMERS NO COURT PROTECTION "Farmers should bo very chary in accepting the suggestion of the Ministor of Labour, the Hon. 11. T. Armstrong, relating to the wages and conditions of married couples on dairy farms, which is in distinct variance with the law as provided by the Agricultural Workers' Act. It is all very well for him to instruct the Department of Labour to ignore what would be a breach of the Act. Married couples who are classed as agricultural workers \inder the Act could at any time claim from the Courts the full benefits in wages and conditions prescribed in the legislation, and the Minister would be powerless to interfere. Ho may bo able to instruct a department, but he has no power over a magistrate or Judge, whose duty it is to carry out the purpose and intention of the law set. out in the Statute "Book." In these words, a well-known barrister referred to the statement made yesterday by tho Minister, in which he said tho department was prepared to give individual consideration to suggested wages for married couples. "It would make every endeavour," the Minister said, "to meet each case :reasonably, as it recognises the wide variations in conditions that apply to :form employment of married couples." In another statemeut reported to have been mc.de to a deputation representative of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, the Minister was credited with saying that wages for married couples

should be left for settlement between

; the contracting parties, his suggestion ! being that, where a wife assistod in the milking shed a suitable wago for the J couple might be £3 a week, with free Chouse, milk s.nd fuel. J t Possibility of Litigation

"It seems to me to be beyond dispute that if ii wife assists in the milking shed as part of her regular duties,

•' she is an agricultural worker under the ! Act," said tbo barrister. "She is therefore entitled with her husband to the i weekly rate of £2 2s 6d, in addition J to free board and lodging. If these are | not supplied, each is entitled to £3 a J week. So, if a. farmer engages a married • couple at, say, £3 or £4 a week, and | each qualifies as an agricultural worker t under the Act, the couple, after a i period, notwithstanding any agreement J with the Labour Department, might , sue the employer through the Courts 5 for a balance of wages due under the

1 Act. The Courts would undoubtedly upI hold such a claim. It will thus be seen ? the danger in which a farmer may in--1 volve himsel:: by falling in with the * suggestions of the Minister. > "The enly way in which the farmer

can be safeguarded is by further legis- * lation. The position cannot be met in general by the issue of under-rate permits. These can only be given where a person suffers some infirmity due to old age or other cause, the 'other cause' having relation to tho infirmity. I admit that where a woman assists in a milking shed to meet an emergency such as sickness, she would not be classed as an agricultural worker, but where to provide assistance in the milking shed as required is part of her duties she is an agricultural workfer. The interpretation of agricultural worker in tbo Act is quite clear. Furthermore, there is the Acts Interpretation Act, which lays it down that words impor ting the masculine gender include the female. Symptoms of Despotism "There is s# still more serious side to, the Ministerial pronouncement," added the barrister. "Some of tho Ministers a:re beginning to show all the symptoms of despotism. No Minister has the right to set aside legislation by fiat. It has been a thing unknown for a Minister to set himself above Parliament. From inquiries mad© in the Waikato it appears "hat most farmers employing married couples are paying them from £3 10s to £4 a week. In these cases the women regularly assist with the milking. One prominent settlor quoted instances of farmers who had entered intCi irregular share agreements with their employees under which tho male workers received not more than the statutory farm workers'"wages, if their wives were employed in the sheds, as invariably they were, that was regarded as the business of the milkers and not of the employers. That idea could hardly be upheld in the courts. Another 'settler quoted instances of married couples being dismissed and single men taken on in their stead owing to the fear of having to pay the women full farm workers' wages in consideration cf the milking they usually did. Tho consensus of opinion seemed to be that the payment of women milkers at . full farm workers wages was an impracticable measure and would never operate. Part-time Milkers In some parts of the province it is the practice for Maori women and girls to do the milking on mornings and evenings. These workers visit the farms For the purpose, and an authority points out that they obviously come within the definition of agricultural workers regularly employed in the milking shed. They therefore are entitled to be paid under tho (scale laid down by the Act. Difficulties have already arisen. Ihe official rate for agricultural workers of the age o! : 21 vears and upwards ia £2 2s 6d a week, to which has to lw added 17s Gd a week if tho worker is not provided by tho employer with board and lodging, so that such adult part-time Maori women workers would be entitled to £3 a week. It is pointed out that although such "Maori women, and other women who give services in the milking shed, may have only part-time employment, the weekly wages laid down in the Act aro not ' divisible. Such women are entitled to all the benefits, such as holidays, prescribed in the legislation. It was further pointed out that there B'ere strong grounds for tho impression , that the Government, when the Agricultural Workers Bill was first drafted. ' did not contemplate tho inclusion of .women in its provisions. In the circumstance?, it should act speedily by further legislation to remedy a state of affairs that was likely to prejudice } both employers and workers alike.