INDUSTRIAL LAW

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7268, 26 October 1910, Page 8

INDUSTRIAL LAW

ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION. GOVERNMENTS PROPOSED NEW AMENDMENTS. WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS. A number of important amendments in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act are proposed in a Bill which was circulated by the Government last night. A changed ej'stem of appointment of members of the Arbitration Court is provided for. The registrar will now call for nominations of candidates as nominated members and emergency nominated members on behalf of workers and employers. If more than one candidate is nominated for any office a poll is to be taken at which every member of the various unions is to have a vote. The poll is to be taken separately for each union. The old provisions, under which unions recommended certain, candidates are to be repealed. Names of unions are in future clearly to indicate the class of workers belonging to them and it is provided, that where cancellation of registration < is necessary to the issue of a fresh certificate the operation of any award or agreement will ia no way be affected. Tae registration of a union is to be limited to the district where its members reside or exererse their calling, provision being made for the issue of new certificates in accordance with the change. The registration of separate unions is also provided for, as well as the extension of districts where asked for. AGREEMENTS AND AWARDS. At any time during the currency of an industrial agreement application may be made by any party thereto that it bo made into an award of the Court, and the Court may, if it thinks fit, within one month after receipt of the application, incorporate the provisions of the industrial .agreement in an award, without making inquiry into the matter's to which those provisions relate. An industrial association of employers or workers, comprising industrial unions in more than one industrial district, may make application for the hearing by a Council of Conciliation of an industrial dispute relating to two or more industrial districts. The commissioner to whom the application is made is to have power to exercise his juris-diction within all the industrial districts in which the dispute has arisen. The districts to which the dispute relates, will be deemed for the purpose of the dispute to bo. one district. Where a dispute relates to more than one industrial district the commissioner may at any time during the hearing increase the number of assessors for each side to not more than six. A DOMINION AWARD. An important: new provision is on© for a Dominion award in certain cases. The clause lays it down that the court may, on the application of any party to an award, extend the award so as to Join and bind as parties thereto all trade unions, industrial unions, industrial associations and employers in New Zealand who are connected with or engaged in the same industry as that to which the award applies: Provided that the court shall not act under this section unless it is satisfied that the conditions of employment or of trade aie such as make it equitable to do so. , f Procedure in cases where no settlement is arrived at before a Council of Conciliation is set , out in a lengthy section, one of the sub-clauses of which provides: If it appears to the court that any reason given for disagreement with the recommendation. is trivial or frivolous, it may disregard such disagreement, and the parties so disagreeing shall be deemed to have concurred in the recommendation. PREFERENCE TO UNIONISTS. The question of preference is dealt with in the following clauses: (1) No industrial union of workers shall bo entitled to preference of employment for its members so long as under its rules any member is subject to any retiring fee or fine (other than for misconduct), or to any contribution to the funds of the union other than as specified by the award or industrial agreement to which the union or association to which the union belongs is a party. (2) When preference of employment is granted l to members of a union of workers, the secretary of that union shall bo . entitled in the event of any person ceasing to bo a member to send by registered letter addressed to the employer of that .person a notice that the said person has ceased to be a member of the union, (3) No such notice shall be given unices, there is then a member of the industrial union equally qualified to perform the particular work that is required to 1. done, and ready and willing to undertake the same; and the notice shall contaL a list of the names and addresses of thos’ members. (4) If the employer to whom any such notice is gent continues to employ 1 person to whom the notice relates for a longer period than fourteen days, he shall be deemed to have committed a breach of the award. (5) For the purposes of this section a worker shall not be deemed to be a member of a union if he is in arrear of dues to the union for six months or upwards. ACTIONS FOR PENALTIES. The Minister has carried out a recent promise in respect to penalties for the breach of an award or agreement, by inserting a provision that they shall in future be recoverable only v by action in the Arbitration Court. Action may be brought by an' inspector or by any party to an award or agreement. The defendant may appear personally, or by a barrister or solicitor, ,or, by an officer of any federation, association, or union to which he may belong. There is no appeal from the court's decision. ■ It is provided that where application is made in pursuance of any judgment for the attachment of the wages of any worker, ull order of attachment may he mado in respect of the surplus of his wages above tho sum of £2 a week in tho case of a worker who is married, or is a widower or widow with children, or above the sum of £1 a wedk in the case of any other worker. A further provision is that no charge on or arrangement o: his wages by any worker shall have any force to defeat or affect an attachment. SITTINGS OF THE COURT. There is a, new provision dealing with sittings of the Arbitration Court, which is to sit in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin at least once in every three months.