WORK AND WAGES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9917, 4 August 1910, Page 1

WORK AND WAGES.

THE ROSS DISPUTE. [From Our Correspondent.] GREYMOUTH, August 3. At a meeting of miners held at Ross this morning, it %vas agreed to accept a new agreement for twelve months. The following scale of wages is incorporated in, the now agreementFacemen, lis P°r day of eight hours; truckers, 10s per shift on one level and 10s 6d on the other level; platemen, lis per day of six hours. These were the terms which the company yesterday offered the men, who accepted them for a period of twelve months, so that all fear of a etrike is at an end.

STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS. THE POWER TO PROSECUTE. [Per Press Association.] WELLINGTON, August 3. In the House of Representatives this afternoon the Minister of Labour was asked whether he would get section 7 of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1908, amended to read thus:—"Every penalty hereinbefore referred to shall be recoverable at the suit of an inspector of awards or at the suit of any party to an award for industrial agreement in the same manner as a penalty for a breach of award or agreement, and all provisions hereinafter contained in this Act with respect 1 to enforcement of awards or agreement shall, so far as applicable, apply accordingly." The present position, is that if the Labour Department will not take a case, then no other persons interested can ask for their rights under the present clause in the Act.

Iho Minister of Labour said: The question evidently arises from a recent case of an alleged lockout under the Hawke's Bay fishermen's award, in which the Department declined to take action.- The matter was referred at my direction to the Crown Law Office, and the Solicitor-General advised that the facte did not disclose a breach of the Act. Replying generally to this question, I may say that I -deem it inadvisable to carry out the suggestion that parties to awards and agreements, as well as inspectors, should have power to take action for strikes and lockouts. It must not be overlooked that these cases are different from ordinary breaches of awards or industrial agreements, inasmuch as the latter are due to default on one side only, whilst almost invariably the former arise- from some dispute between workers on the one hnnd and an employer on the other, both of whom must, therefore, be regarded as directly concerned in the matter. In all cases of alleged srtrlkes or lockouts great care requires to be taken, not only to obtain from an impartial person a full statement of the facts as viewed by both sides, but also to get legal advice on the subject. It is the invariable practice of the chief inspector to refer all Btrike and lockout cases to me, when the iwlvieo of the Grown Law Office is obtained, upon which the decisions of the Department are come to. It should be noted also that the amendment suggested would give the individual employers as well as unions or associations concerned power to prosecute one another for an alleged strike or lockout as the case may be.