REGISTRATION OF UNIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 168, 19 July 1939, Page 8

REGISTRATION OF UNIONS

CANCELLATION POWERS BILL BEFORE HOUSE ACTION IN CASE OF STRIKES OR LOCK-OUTS I Per l’re»s AisociaUva.J PARLIAMENT BLDGS., July 18. Power to cancel the registration of industrial unions of workers or employers in cases of strikes or lock-outs will be sought by tne Government in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Bill which was introduced m the House of Representatives this afternoon by the Minister of Labour, Hon. P. C. vVebb. Explaining the provisions, the Minister said that if the unions desired to have the b-nefits of organisation under the 1. C. and A. Act then tney must ke prepared to aaopt the macnlnery laid down in that Act and have tneir dispute d ad with in a constitutional manner. They could not take advantage of the Act iui tn? purposes of organising and then ignore it when a dispute arose. Referring to the numo-r of banecs since Labour had assumed ollie-, Me. Webo said that while such dk'.u-bancTj generally had been m minor importance, undcuulediy they gave rise to irritation and IU-ieelin* and interfered with iiie normal flow 01 production. Th.ie was really no necessity for industiies to De ntia up or impeded, u either side refused to accept tne final decision of the Arbitration Court, the Minister added, then n was ooviou.. that the whole basis of the Act would break down. If the unions were noi. prepared to accept the proc-dure under the Act then they should not sock to retain its benefits. Urgency For Bill. When the Prime Minister, Hon. M. J. Savage, asked lor urgency lor tne passing of the Bill, Hon. G. Vv. Forbe~ enquired the need for such urgency. Mr. Savage: I was hoping that wcwould get a discussion on the Bill when it came officiary before the House. I think the Opposition may rest assured that the Government ha~ good reason to ask for urgency. Urgency was accordingly granted without turther dissent. The Bill states that if the Minister of Labour is satisfied that any discontinuance of employment has been caused, or is likely to cause serious loss or inconvenience due to the action of a union of workers or employers he may, by notice in the Gazette, cancel the registration of the union conned or cacel any award or ndustrial agreement relating to that union. This cancellation may be general or limited to any specified locality. When notice of cancellation has been issued with regard to any particular union or district, no other union may be registered for that industry in the locality, nor may the scope of any other union be extended to cover that ditrict without the consent of the Minister. “Discontinuance of employment,” is defined as refusal by any employer to engage workers for any work for which he usually employs them, the fusal of workers to accept engagement for any work in which they are usually employed, or any “method, act or emission in the course of emnlovment that has. or is likelv in

the effect of interrupting or impeding j work in any industry/’ The Bill was read a first time an ‘ Mr. Forbes, on the second reading. ■' immediately reiterated his query as to • - why urgency was require ’. Minister’s Explanation. The Minister of Labour. Hon. P. C. , * Webb: Urgency is required t * p v._ ‘ , the Minister of Labour pc,ver . de-*. register any union or part of i un.aii • which, by any action on their par’, caues interruption or stoppag is < f industry. I am taking power under this Bill to cancel the registry *n of j any union which does not oni; , with the law as it stands. Wc cunT !< have the law reading both wav . At , the present moment there is re il re.- • son why the measure hould be passe 1 : j immediately without waiting weeks or h perhaps months before it is put into ;. effect. Mr. W. J. Polson (Opp. Stratford>: . . The Minister is very mysterious. Eel, hasn’t told us much. What has 1 lie i , Government up its sleeve that theie ‘ should be this sudden demand for i urgency? What terrible things have L the unions been doing? He con-L tinued that under the Labour Govern- ’ ment’s own legislation passed previ- , ously, penalties were provided for j non-compliance with awards. ;u. i ! unions which broke the conditions I could be fined £lOO and .n? nbers rd I that union £5 each. Why .lid not th? i Government stick to the | riaeiples p laid down in its own legls’ition? I There might be something behind this I desire for urgency, because he was j aware that some members of the | Labour Party were not in favour of • compulsory unionism. If the Minister I assured them that urgi n *y was ne ts- : sary and showed them that this was the case, then he would meet with no opposition from his (Mr. Polson’s) sic!-' ■ of the House. Reply to Mr. Polson. The Minister of Labour, Hon. P. C. i Webb, said it was true that there ha . been breaches of awards by union.:. I but referring to Mr. Poison s confer.- i tion that the penalties unrter the 1 existing legislation should be inflicted i in such cases, the Minister added that I no Government during the past 10 i years had inflicted these penalties. Even the Nationalist Government had I seen fit to deal with the I.C. and A • Act in a commonsense way. The Government was not going to let the unions have the law both ways. They either had to abide by the I.C. and A Act or they could not expect to benefit by its protection. If a union came out on strike, the Minister said he wanted power to deregister it. He knew there had been several stoppages recently and they ha one in Auckland at the present time. When the Bill had passed through the House he. would tainsteps to deregister the union can cerned forthwith. If the unions did not comply with the law, he > would take the first possible opportunity to deregister them. He believed the Bill was necessary j in the interests of collective secur- I