LABOUR LEGISLATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 301, 20 December 1937, Page 9

LABOUR LEGISLATION

EMPLOYERS’ DIFFICULTIES COMMENT BY MINISTER L Per Press Association. J WELLINGTON, Dec. 18. The intention of the Government to legislate if necessary to prevent certain employers from acting unfairly towards workers because of loopholes in the law, was reiterated by the Minister of Labour, Hon. H. T. Armstrong, in an interview--. Mr Armstrong said that complaints had been received from various parts of the Dominion that employers in certain factories were notifying their employees that they would finish up before lhe Christmas holidays. In some cases workers were being told to apply for their positions again after the holidays and there were a few’ instances in which they were not even being told that. “Complaints have been macle to me that in some cases they are dispensing with the services of employees, and not on the ground of there not being sufficient work, because a number of factories have been working overtime in the past two or three months,” stated the Minister. “The reason, in some instances, must be partly a desire to dodge the responsibility of holidays and partly with the intention to dispense with the services of older boys and girls entitled to higher wages and replace them with youngsters just leaving school. If employers take advantage of the position in that way they are not playing the game, and the Government will be forced to legislate to prevent a recurrence. They might get away with it this time and they might win the first round, but we will win all the rest.”