LEGISLATION DELAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23044, 23 May 1938, Page 10

LEGISLATION DELAY

AMENDMENT TO ACT PREVIOUS CASE RECALLED DECISION BY MAGISTRATE The Arbitration Court's decision respecting tho Hawke's'Bay local bodies' labourers' agreement is similar to its judgment on appeal in what is known as tho Cathie case, heard in the Magistrate's Court at Wellington in June of last year. This case related to sections of the Factories Act, as amended in 1936, requiring factory owners to grant all employees a full lioliday on Christinas Day and a number of other statutory holidays, and to pay them in full for such days.

The question raised was whpther payment was required to be made for Boxing Day, 1936, which . fell on a Saturday, when the defendant's factory would have been closed in any event. The magistrate held that the wording of the Act was mandatory and provided no exception when the prescribed holidays fell on days other than working days. The decision was later upheld by the Arbitration Court. In view of the fact that Christmas Day, 1937, and New Year's Day, 1938, would fall on Saturdays, and a very large sum of money would be involved, the Employers' Federation opened negotiations with the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, and the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong. In December Mr. Armstrong stated that the purpose of the legislation had been merely to ensure that workers received the ordinary weekly wage without deduction. He gave an undertaking that when Parliament met in March amending legislation would be introduced to make this intention clear so far as the_ Factories Act was concerned. He pointed out, however, that the amendment would not affect similar provisions in existing awards, whether they related to factory workers or not. The Prime Minister stated about the same time that the amendment would be retrospective, and employers who were affected accordingly withheld payment for the two holidays.. So far, in spite of the Government's promise, no amending legislation has been introduced. It was suggested after Parliament rose in March that possibly the Government was waiting for the outcome of an appeal by the emplovers from a Magistrate's Court judgment on the same matter relating to the Auckland engineers' award.