ARBITRATION LAW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 803, 28 April 1910, Page 2

ARBITRATION LAW.

DEFECTION OF UNIONS. REMARKS BY MR, W. PRYOR. Mr. W. Pryor, secretary of the New Zealand' Employers' Federation, when seen by a Dominion reporter, g&w aii interesting review of the re-cently-published list of industrial unioiis of workers which have' received. conditional'notice of cancellation of their registration under the Arbitration Act. Mr. Pryor said it could, not be maintained, so far . as the unions in the list were concerned, that dissatisfaction/with Arbitration Court awards was ■ the causa of their apparent defection; Morel likely causes were failuro to send in returns and the formation of small unions inplaces where there was no scope for their development. Taking the workers' or- • ganisations in thoMist .which"was pub-' lished in The Dominion last Friday, lfr« Pryor said that the first one, the Feder - • ,ated Seamen of New Zealand Industrial Association, was, as'its. name indicated,, a federation of unions, and so' far as 'Jiia' knew none of. the local unions had al- ; lowed their registration to be cancelled. He understood that they .were perfectly, satisfied to let their present awards continue. .' ' . ~'. • ; ■ There were fourteen industrial unions of workers in the list, and not one" of them was working under an award made by the Court, so that it could not be correct to; say, as' Mr. Carey had said ia The Dominion of Monday last, that the principal reason for the probable cancellation of the registration of these unions was that in many instances the unions, after formation and application to tha Arbitration Court for an award, have obtained one which, instead ,of improving their conditions of 'work, has done quite the reverse." The' Taranaki - Butter and Cheese Factories - Em-", ployees' . Union . never had an .award 1 from : the Court itself, but . .in 1907 ' an industrial agreement was entered into aud filed as such, , and last-year'a further agreement was arrived at between the union and the employers, 'and, by consent of both'* was converted' into an award of the Court. : The Napier; Shop Assistants' Union, the Dunedia Cooks' and Stewards' .Union, : and tha Otago Freezing.; Workers'' Union had never applied for an award; and, so far as he knew, this was true also of the Wanganui Fellmongers' Union, ;the Pctono and Hutt Borough Councils' Sanitary AVorkers' 'Union,' the Tai Tapu Miners* ' Union, and the Canterbury. Dress and Costume Workers' Union. "The Marton:. and Pahiatua branches -of the A'lnalga- : mated Society of Carpenters and Joiners had never had awards of their own, and had always been subject to the Wellington country award, which, was still in existence, and which was secured on the application of the Wellington branch .of. the society. The Wairarapa Drovers*, and: Shepherds' Union'.. applied .for .-an award, but owing to the dispute not having been/properly referred to the Court, the application was thrown out. The" Wairarapa Navvies' and General Labour- " 6rs' Union had never applied for an award,/that,district being, subject to the Wellington Country : General Labourers* Award. The ; Wellington Hairdressers' Assistants' Union had twice .made agree-, rnents . with' thftir . employers, \ but. had. never applied to the Court for an award, : and had never worked under one. -The Canterbury Eope, Twine,' Flock and! Flaxmill Employees' Union- had twice had' agreements with their employers, and were at present.working under one .which wjis entered into towards the end of last year, and converted iiitoi'an award at/the request "of . the parties. Hence it was plain. from.; a consideration/ of-v the eases' of all the workers' unions'that appeared on the list that' not'one of them was abandoning its status under the Arbitra--tiou Act for the reason indicated : by the president of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council. ■ ■ Mr. Pryor went.on to combat'.'-anbther statement' made by- Mr. Carey./ / The latter had said: "It is generally the case that the small; minimum wage- : of these awards .is to ,tjie. unemployed'wbrket,' and' is' used agdmsi' : him when he bargains for a higher wagi." Against this. Mr. Pryor q.uoted''a retara' which appeared .in • the . Labour Department's . report /of . last,-.year, pp. ■./133-143, .showing that,out of 2451 workers untier awards in the Auckland industrial districi 61J "per cent, were receiving more . than, tho minimum wage. In Wellington, 57i per cent. of* 2062 workers under awards were receiving more than the:'minimum wage,' and the - figures for other districts : were:—Canterbury, 2999,; ; 47 per "centCj* Otago, 1592, 46 4-5 per cent. " ■ "These astonishing figures," added Mr. Pryor, ."are/strong evidence : that' those ' w'ho say that./the. cancellation: of ."industrial unions is-' duo to employers 'leaking the minimum wage the maximum are greatly mistaken."..