SPLIT IN LABOUR.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17996, 15 April 1930, Page 8

SPLIT IN LABOUR.

ACTION OF ALLIANCE

CRITICISED BY ENGINEERS’ UNION.

INTIMIDATION ALLEGED

(By TefegTapn.—Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, Monday

In the discussion at the meeting of the Petone branch of the Amalgamated Engineers and Allied Trades',, Union of Workers, when strong exception was taken to the action of the Alliance of Labour in declaring “ black ” the committee which is investigating the operations of the Workers’ Compensation Act, Mr R. F. Barter (Engineers’ Trade Union) complained that when breaches had been reported, officers had gone round to the employer concerned and the employee had been asked by the employers what complaint he had been making to the union secretary, which was clearly intimidation. He quoted , a specific case in an Auckland foundry, and said it was not not “playing football with the men.’-*-

He gave specific instances where, he said, there had been most unreasonable delay in dealing with casesIn one instance there had been underpayment of wages, and the department’s reply was that the worker concerned could take civil action. \Speaking of the Labour Bureau methods, Mr Barter complained that certain engineers were sent out to the Otahuhu 'railway workshops. They paid their own fares out* and when they got there they were asked who sent them and told that there Avas no work for them. They could then either pay their own fare back to town or walk. The Apprentice Question) Mr J. Clark (Auckland Plumbers’ Union) dealt specially with the apprentice question, complaining of the way the act was administered in Auckland. In cases where an employer went bankrupt apprentices who had not finished their time were subject to great hardship. In many other cases, apprentices had been discharged whether work was plentiful or not. They appealed to the court and won their cases, but the court had no power to compel the employer to take the apprentice back, so they were stranded. The employers seemed to want boys in their first year at 5s a week, and not when they were entitled to more pay.. There had been no prosecution of an employee for failing to complete indentures. Act Wants Amending. Mr Clark contended that Section 15 of the act certainly wanted amending, in order to - provide a penalty for employers who dismissed apprentices and refused to allow them to complete thCir time. Mr E. J. Phelan (Timber Workers’ Union) gave an instance of Departmental methods. He quoted a case where a lad of sixteen, the sole support of his mother, w-as under-paid, and though the employer was fined the department declined to recover back pay,'saying the lad had a civil remedy. How could a lad of sixteen or his mother be in a position to sue ? Mr H. Campbell (Painters’- Union) also voiced complaints, and supplemented Mr Clark’s remarks about apprentices and the necessity for some reform. The Minister’s Reply. The Minister, in reply, said as far as he w-as concerned the administration of the Labour Department was going to be fair to all concerned. As' yet he had no reason to doubt the integrity of officers of the Department. He believed them to be all straightgoing men. It might toe that an officer had a wrong outlook. If that was so he (the Minister) would say so publicly after the facts had b:en fullyenquired into. Regarding the apprenticeship question, he mentioned that he had drawn up a bill providing for dealing with the absence of a penalty where an apprentice was dismissed and not taken on again, but he was not satisfied with it. He would go into the matter further, with a view- to introducing a bill during the coming session. The case of an employer going bankrupt would also be provided for, in the way of giving protection to an apprentice. He would go fully into the matter of dismissed apprentices, and see if some further protection could not be devised for them.

As to the request that unions be givenppo r er to institute prosecutions, he would not like to promise anything, but would have it fully considered. They might take the middle course and allow' apprenticeship committees to take action.