OTAGO CLERICAL WORKERS

Southland Times, Issue 23307, 17 September 1937, Page 6

OTAGO CLERICAL WORKERS

Steps To Overcome Award Difficulty MEASURE INTRODUCED IN PARLIAMENT ARBITRATION ACT TO BE AMENDED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, September 16. Legislation which will overcome the difficulty caused by the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of the Otago clerical workers was introduced in the House of Representatives today by Governor-General’s Message. The measure takes the form of an amendment to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act and gains its objective by providing a new definition on the term industry. Before the decision of the Court of Appeal the term industry had generally been regarded by the Arbitration Court and others as meaning not only a business or an undertaking in which employers and their employees were engaged, but also any employment or occupation of the workers themselves, irrespective of the nature of the businesses of their employers. The court’s decision was that the term industry, should be limited in its meaning to the business or undertaking common to both employers and workers and it was immediately suggested that numerous unions and awards would be affected by the pronouncement. The new definition of industry contained in the Bill is as follows:—

(a) Any business, trade, manufacture, undertaking or calling of the employers. (b) Any calling, service, employment, handicraft, or occupation of the workers.

This extended definition is made retrospective so as to cover the registration of any union affected before the passing of the legislation and also to validate any prior award, industrial agreement or proceedings before the Conciliation Council or the Arbitration Court. Another clause permits an industrial union of employers or workers by amending it£ rules and changing its name to extend the area for which it is registered or extend its scope to admit persons engaged or employed in related industries. It is made clear that the Registrar of Industrial Unions will have full power to issue a new certificate of registration and record amendments to the rules of the union concerned. Industrial associations are also to be covered by this provision. Authority is given in the Bill for the Minister of Labour to issue . underrate workers’ permits in special cases to persons not usually employed in the industry concerned. “This Bill really reinstates the position as it existed before the recent decision of the Court of Appeal,” said the acting Minister of Labour (the Hon. P. C. Webb) when the Bill was introduced. The Minister said the decision had upset the position that had existed for 25 years and unless the Bill was passed the awards of the Otago Union and all others concerned would be seriously affected. The Bill was read a first time.