THE ARBITRATION ACT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 12432, 3 April 1908, Page 7

THE ARBITRATION ACT.

Resolution by Wellington Trades and Labour Council.

Strikes Declared Justifiable.

(Per Unitwi Press Association"* WELLINGTON, April 3. At a meeting of the Trades and Labour Council last night, section 15 of the Industrial Arbitration and Conciliation Act was discussed. It was the general opinion of the delegates that the workers had a perfect right to uee all methods for gaining better industrial conditions, and that strikes were justifiable when the Arbitration Court failed to deal fairly with the demands of the workers. The following resolution was passed: "This Council, after reviewing the present position of the industrial law of the Dominion, considers section 15 of the Act a blot upon such legislation, and demands that this section be immediately repealed."

The section above referred to enacts that any industrial union or association or employer or any worker, whether a member of any such Union or Association or not, who shall strike, or create, take part in, propose, aid, or abet a strike or lockout, or any movement intended to produce a strike or lock-out, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine and may be proceeded against in the same manner as if guilty of a breach of an award. The fine shall not exceed £100 in the case of a Union, Association, or employer, or ,£lO in the case of a worker, Clause 2 of the same section provides that no worker shall be subject to a fine merely because he refuses to work or announces his intention to refuse to work at the rate of wages fixed by any award or industrial agreement, unless the Court is satisfied that such refusal was in pursuance of an intention to commit a breach of this section. •