ENGAGING OF LABOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22700, 12 April 1937, Page 11

ENGAGING OF LABOUR

PLACEMENT SERVICE TRADES UNION CONTENTION It is the opinion of various trades union secretaries in Auckland that under the compulsory unionism provisions of the 1936 amendment to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act preference should be extended in the engagement of laoour to unionists. They have made representations to that effect to the Auckland Placement Service.

Their submission is based on the wording in the Act, which states that "In every award . . . the Court shall make provision to the effect that, while the award continues in force, it shall not be lawful for any employer bound thereby to employ or to continue to employ in the industry to which the award relates any adult person who is not for the time being a member of an industrial union of workers bound by that award. . Naturally, non-unionists who are employed in an industry must join up with a union if the industry is covered by an award, but the secretaries concerned give a stricter interpretation than that. Apparently they are not prepared to distinguish between the words "to engage" and "to employ," the latter being the words in the Act. They contend that in the practical observance of fhc clause non-unionists should not be engaged while union labour is available. A point they make in favour of the unionist is that he is far more likely to be proficient, in the trade than a non-unionist, the fact that he was still a unionist implying that he had not been long away from his occupation, and so had not suffered any great loss of skill thereby.