AWARD GRANTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23340, 4 November 1937, Page 6

AWARD GRANTED

HARBOUR BOARD EMPLOYEES OBJECTION BY OTHER UNIONS (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Nov. 3. The application for a Dominion award for the New Zealand Harbour Board Employees' Union was heard by the Arbitration Court when the parties brought forward practically a complete agreement. Mr Justice O'Regan presided. Mr J. Roberts appeared for the applicant union and Mr W. J. Gardner represented the Harbour Boards. Mr Roberts said that the application covered the employees of 26 harbour boards who had signified their wish to come into the union, which was a new one applying for its first award. At the beginning of the dispute there had been as many as 1380 classifications of wages. These had been considerably reduced through the work of the assessors. Objections to the formation of the union had been made by several other unions before registration was granted, and the Minister of Labour had ordered a ballot to be taken among the men employed on tugs and dredges. The ballot had been conducted by the Labour Department. Later other unions had objected and further ballots had been tak6n. However, the union had covered only those harbour board employees throughout the country who had been in favour of joining the new body. Where harbour board employees belonging to other unions had shown that they did not want to come into the union, no attempt had been made to cover them by the provisions of the application. His Honor read a protest from the Wellington Clerical Workers' Union and a joint one from seven Auckland unions. Mr Roberts said that the Auckland protest came from unions whose members were not covered by the application. His Honor said the facts that a union had been duly formed and that an agreement had been reached gave the court no option but to pronounce an award.