MEANING OF AWARD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 296, 14 December 1931, Page 7

MEANING OF AWARD.

Question of Fay for Holiday Period. THE BOOT OPERATIVES. An application for interpretation of the Dominion Boot Operatives award was made by the Inspector of Awards, Mr R. T. Bailey, in the Arbitration Court this morning. Mr Justice Fraser presided, with him Mr W. Cecil Prime, employers’ assessor, and Mr A. L. Monteith, employees’ assessor. It was stated that several parties bound by the award gave their assistants notice to end their services prior to the Christmas holidays. The employees were not given certificates as provided in the award, bu€ were advised that they would be re-engaged on the resumption of work in the New Year. The question was whether the assistants were entitled to be paid for the period during which the premises were closed. Mr H. Duckworth, for the employers, said it had never been the custom to give certificates on the termination of employment unless they were asked for. It was contended that the employers affected definitely discharged the assistants at different times because of slackness of work, with the proviso that, if there were more work in the New Year, the discharged hands would receive first consideration for re-engagement. The discharged hands were not given notice to evade payment for the holiday period, but on account of *the bad state of the industry. Mr F. M. Robson, for the Canterbury Boot Operatives’ Union, declared that the action taken by the employers was simply to evade payment for the holiday period. It was the general practice to give certificates on discharge, and that was certainly not a dead letter in the award. His Honor said the question at stake was whether, assuming that work was slack, it was permissible for a factory to close down from three to five weeks and discharge its employees, to be re-engaged on re-opening. That might not necessarily apply to Christmas time alone. There was no question of any breach or penalty. The Court had merely been asked the meaning of the award. Judgment was reserved.