APPRENTICES' WAGES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22694, 5 April 1937, Page 8

APPRENTICES' WAGES

The judgment of the Arbitration Court on the application of last year's Factories Amendment Act to apprentices' wages will supply definition where previously there has been a good deal of confusion. At the same time it will tend to raise a crop of anomalies and irregularities that are undesirable and introduce unnecessary complications. How this comes about is explained in a statement published this morning by Mr. W. E.. Anderson, made on behalf of the Employers' Association. The position created is such that there is no reason to question his supposition that neither the Government nor Parliament intended to produce such odd results. For instance, an employer who rewards a promising apprentice by paying wages above the minimum must continue to do so at later stages, whether the early promise is realised or not. He will therefore be exceedingly reluctant to enter a commitment that becomes fixed in this way, the effect being that the wage minimum will almost invariably be also the maximum. All apprentices will be tied down to a dead level, a result surely not anticipated by the Legislature nor welcomed by the Government. An indication that such is probably the case is given by the view taken by the Labour Department in actual administration. How the Government may regard the questions raised by the Court's ruling has yet to be determined. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Labour have already stated, however, that where mistakes occur they will not be afraid to correct them. Mr. Armstrong has, in fact, not hesitated in the past to rectify anomalies that have arisen out of new legislation. Here is a case calling for a stay of administrative action and possibly formal amendment of the law when the opportunity occurs.