AN UNLAWFUL STRIKE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22545, 12 April 1935, Page 10

AN UNLAWFUL STRIKE

WATERSIDE WORKERS’ APPEAL

DISALLOWED BY ARBITRATION COURT (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, April 11. The Arbitration Court disallowed the appeal on a point of law of 58 waterside workers who were fined £1 each by the magistrate for having taken part in an unlawful strike. Mr Justice Frazer said the appellants contended that the society of which they were members was not a society to which the provisions of the Labour Disputes Investigation Act applied, inasmuch as, when the refusal to work overtime occurred, the society was bound by the terms of an industrial agreement under the I.C.A. Act, 1925. It appeared, however, that the agreement related solely to ship repair work and had no bearing on the work of stevedores. The existence of that agreement did not exclude the society from the application of section 3 of the Labour Disputes Investigation Act in reppect of work altogether outside the scope of the agreement. Mr Justice Frazer said also that tne appellants could have sued in any court ot competent jurisdiction for the amount they claimed should have been paid them, or they could have had recourse to the Disputes Committee. If they had been able to convince their society of the necessity for taking such action the society could have given notice of the dispute to the Minister under section 4 of the Labour Disputes Investigation Act. The appellants, however, decided in combination to refuse to work overtime with the object of compelling the employer to agree to pay a greater sum than the employer considered he was bound to pay. No breach of the Act was alleged against either the society or the association, ihe position was simply that the appellants as individuals acted in combination with one another in such a manner as]to bring themselves within the definition o ** parties to an unlawful strike.