INDUSTRIAL UNREST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23599, 8 September 1938, Page 12

INDUSTRIAL UNREST

CRITICISM OF COURTS DELAY IN ISSUING AWARDS WORKERS’ REPRESENTATIONS TWO SOLUTIONS OF PROBLEM (Special to Daily Times) WELLINGTON, Sept. 5, Opinions are prevalent in Wellington that the announcement of the Minister of Labour as to a possible change in the method of hearing industrial disputes is not likely to expedite matters II is considered that there are only two solutions to the problem—prompt derisions by the courts or the introduction of legislation by which pronouncements of the Court of Arbitration on wage increases would become operative immediately in the industries affected.

Such representations have already been made to the Government by the New Zealand Federation of Labour following strong protests through its affiliated organisations at the delays in the issue of awards In the meantime the congestion has become greater and the ability of the Government to deal with the matter to the satisfaction of the workers is not likely to be easy because of the approaching end of the final session of Parliament and the general election.

Mr Croskery’s Resignation The decision of Mr A. W. Croskery. workers’ representative, to resign from the Second Court of Arbitration is stated in authoritative circles to have been taken as a means of bringing to a head the dissatisfaction of the workers at the delay by this court in issuing awards. In accordance with the legislation awards must be issued within a month of the date of hearing of disputes, unless special circumstance? exist. Such special circumstances are considered not to exist Finality in 12 disputes had not been reached by the Second Court of Arbitration when it left Wellington They included the Dominion shop assistants’ dispute, in which more than 20,000 workers are concerned. The court completed the grocers and chemists’ awards in Christchurch, but the remainder are still awaited.

Some of the major disputes heard in Wellington in which awards are pending are as follows (the dates of hearing being given in parentheses):—Shop assistants (May 10), butchers (June 7), fish workers (June 8), Wellington Tramways (June 30), Wellington electric workers (July 5), Wellington aerated water workers (July 6).

Thousands of workers are concerned in these disputes, and -onsiderable discontent exists, as the majority of them hold that they *e justly entitled to wage increases under the pronouncement of the Court of Arbitration prior to and in November, 1937, and that the delays mean a loss of thousands of pounds to these workers.

As' a consequence of Mr Croskery's resignation, the Second Court decided to postpone further fixtures in Christchurch, and to reach finality on the disputes already heard At the court’s previous rate of progress, which it is contended is determined primarily by the attitude of the president, it is considered doubtful whether these awards will be completed by the end of this month. The indications also are that by the time this work is completed a number of awards will have expired If the circumstances warrant it, applications for new awards can be made, but the securing of fixtures promises to be difficult due to the steady banking up of old fixtures. Fate of Second Court In addition to these delays the Second Court has aroused discontent over some awards already issued. The grocers’ award is a case .n point. There is stated to be a growing lack of confidence in the court, and the eagerness with which unions sought fixtures with. it on its appointment. in order to reap a quick benefit, as was hoped, from the Court of Arbitration’s wage increase pronouncements. may not be repeated In view of these circumstances, with which the Minister is familiar, it is considered unlikely that the Second Court’s term will be renewed unless its personnel is altered. It is felt that the Minister’s announcement is a lead up to the closing down of the Second Court. Here again opinions are held that the crux of the matter has not been tackled The trend is towards incorporating local awards in comprehensive Dominion awards. Thus, industrial magistrates may not have arduous duties and one court would still be heavily loaded. This court will also take over the functions of the Court of Appeal against the decisions of industrial magistrates. It is conceivable that the court could spend a great deal of its time hearing such appeals.

Directed at Presidents No secret is made of the fact that the workers’ criticism of the courts is primarily directed at the pressidents. It is pointed out that no difficulty was experienced in securing prompt decisions during the terms as presidents of the court of Sir Francis Frazer and Mr Justice Page. A more happy appointment could even at this juncture straighten out the whole difficulty Failing this, most opinions favour the introduction of legislation to make the pronouncements of the Court of Arbitration immediatelv operative in the industries affected In the meantime, the New Zealand Federation of Labour is calling for nominations for a successor to Mr Croskery.