LABOUR LAWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20285, 7 December 1935, Page 8

LABOUR LAWS

AMENDMENTS TO BE MADE STATUTORY MINIMUM WAGE By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, December 6. One of the hardest worked men in the Cabinet team will be the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, Minister of ErhiJldyrfient, Labour and Immigration, and when the session is held early next year he wiil have charge of some of the most important of the Government’s legislation. Interviewed, immediately after he. was sworn in, he said he realised that he had a stiff task ahead of him, but he felt confident that he would be equal to it. “Until Christmas.” he said, “I will be fully occupied with unemployment matters, and in the New Year I will devote some time to very necessary amendments to the labour laws. Amendments will be introduced to the Factories Act, Apprentices Act, Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and the Shops and Offices Act. Legislation regarding apprentices is urgently,necessary as the number of register T ed apprentices has fallen from more than 10,000 a few years ago to just over 3,000 at the present time.” The right of appeal by workers and employers under the Arbitration Act ■would have to be restored, said Mr Armstrong, but just how the Arbitration Court would be constituted in the future could not be determined at present. He proposed to examine the constitution of the Court to see in which directions it could be improved. He also proposed to submit to the Cabinet at the earliest opportunity proposals for a statutory minimum wage for men and women. The Arbitration Court would have to determine what wages over and above the irreducible minimum were to be paid in particular industries. Unemployment Fund Regarding unemployment, Mr Armstrong said he was not in a position at the moment to say what was the state of the fund, but he did know that in the last few months the rate of expenditure had far exceeded the rate of income, and if the present position was continued there would be a very substantial cash deficit by the end of March. It was clear that the re T cent reduction in the unemployment tax was quite unwarranted. “I do not want anyone to be alarmed by that statement.” said Mr Armstrong. “It seems to me that the Unemployment Board has been contributing more to the cost of public works than its proper share, and that a new arrangement must be made for the provision of revenue for public undertakings. In the new Ministry the Departments of Employment, Public Works and Industries and Commerce -win work in the closest collaboration in providing employment, and the Hon. H T Armstrong, Hon. R. Semple, and the Hon. D. G. Sullivan will practically comprise a sub-committee of the Cabinet to deal with unemployment.