PAY FOR STOPWORK MEETINGS

Wanganui Chronicle, 18 August 1948, Page 6

PAY FOR STOPWORK MEETINGS

TRIBUNAL’S FINDING IN MINE DISPUTE NO UNANIMITY ON SEVENHOUR DAY ISSUE (P.A.) Greymouth, Aug. 17 Unanimous agreement that it had been the custom not to uock pay for stop-work meetings at the Liverpool and Strongman State mines, prior to the coming into force of the 1948 West Coast Coal Mines Agreement, was reached today when a special tribunal set up by the Minister of Mines (Mr. McLagan. considered the issues involved in the strike in both mines in June and July, when 22 working days were lost. The tribunal, over which Mr. A. A. McLachlan, .S.M., presided, did not agree on the second question of whether the miners were entitled to claim the payment of a seven-hour day, compensation allowance of one hour for hewers on piecework and truckers on contract, or under a bonus scheme on days on which they do not work a full shift owing to attendance at stopwork meetings. This question, therefore, will be decided by Mr. McLachlan. The cause of the strike was deductions made from the pay of workers at the Strongman mine in respect of time lost at stopwork meetings, and the basis of the case presented to the tribnunal by the union was that the right to hold stopwork meetings up to one hour each day was conveyed by long-established custom, and could not be overridden by subsequent happenings, either the introduction of a seven-hour day or the coming into force of a new West Coast Miners’ Working Agreement.

Members of the Tribunal are Messrs. A. A. McLachlan, S.M. (chairman), Mr. G. E English (president of the Runanga State Miners’ Union), and Mr F. Connew (president of the Stockton Miners’ Union), union representatives, Mr. C. H. Benney (Under-Secretary of Mines), and Mr. C. J. Strongman (superintendent of State Coal Mines).

The case for the union was piesented by Mr. J. Harrington, check inspector at the Strongman mine, assisted by Mr. R. H. Mitchell. The case for the Mines Department was presented by Mr. P. M. Outhwaite, assistant Under-Secretary of Mines. For the Mines Department, Mr. Outhwaite said that it had been the custom to disregard meetings not exceeding one hour, but deductions were made for over that period on six occasions at the Strongman mine in 1947. He added that stopwork meetings at the Liverpool mine were more of short duration.

Relating to the second point at issue, Mr. Outhwaite said the management relied on an agreement relating to the seven-hour day and payments associated with its introduction, and claimed that a full shift must be worked before a worker could claim compensation allowance. As a party to the agreement the Runanga Union was not entitled to claim for its members the allowance on all occasions. Acceptance by the United Mine Workers of Mr. McLagan’s circular setting out the conditions under which the allowance is payable bound the Runanga Union, which, in addition, accepted the W’est Coast Agreement on June 3 last. Mr. Outhwaite contended that the clause on stopwork meetings crystallised an intention to ensure that the seven-hour day was actually worked in the mines. When the Strongman miners booked a 61hour shift on June 10, they were not paid a seven-hour allowance, and the management contended that it had a right to dock them on that date and on June 14 and 18. notwithstanding previous custom, because this condition was explicitly covered by a clause in the West Coast Agreement. None of the meetings had been approved by the management and no approach had been made to the manager to hold them.

The tribunal’s agreement on the question of custom was announced 35 minutes after the adjournment, and Mr. McLachlan said he would give a written decision on» the outstanding point.