THAT LAST CARD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1701, 18 March 1913, Page 6

THAT LAST CARD.

———♦ —-—: i; - ' ' - IN MEAT" STRIKE. ! TIIE NEW UNION WINS IN COURT, b j" ; , ■ ;T- ' i: ■ 'H h'"-' 0 j : - -■ : , • - ; c ! - MOVE THAT : FAILED. •• f , j."■ ■ SOME SEVERE COMMENT ON IT. I- •• i ' "It would be intolerable if, Hie. ek- ], ', istence i.f a utaibn which'. has_. played fast and loose with the Arbitration [•• •' . system, as the Wellington Slaughter-' ii j . i ma's 'Union.- has done, should bar f< i :■ the registration of another union, the b ! : members .of , which have-a bona fido , d i•• desire' to' use'.the,,machinery"of Jhe, n ! ■ Act. To hold that tfould enable the a ; ' machinery of the Act -to-be used for > ' V the very purpose ' of ! "defeating- tho' 1 ; fundamental object of the_ Act—viz., (. ... ■ to securri settlement." of disputes by I, ; ' conciliation and arbitration.". ■ J f This was the emphatic statement, made. ■ by tho Court of Arbitration . yesterday, ' ' in a majority decision,' allowing'the appeal of the Ngahauranga Slaughtermen's '■ ■ Union against the .refusal of the Labour i . Department to grant registration on the A ! ' ground that the members of -the union j : i might conveniently belong to the existing n ' organisation, the Wellington, Slaughter- J inen'.s. Union.,", .... ... . , n r•• Mr.. Justice. Sim. presided-.at'the hear- e iug last week, and, sitting with..-him, were o Mi;. AY.'^Scott; 'employers', representative, =' and Mr. j; A. M'Cuilough, employees' * ! representative.;' : u [ "Air.' "Clli. .Skerre{t, Iv.Ci, .witlu Jli-l 'G. -t H. I-'ell,;;apsdXrtd;,foi- 'the:'Ngahauranga * Union, while Sir John Findlay, JC.(J., c with Mr. i).' M.'l i 'iiidlay, appealed 011 be-. ® haif.of the, AVellington Slaughtermen's f Union, w&S .opposed", the -new-union's ap- ' , The.'. labour 1 .Department was not represented, but the Registrar of ; 'Awardo" forwarded the I>e- * partmental file dealing with the subject, t ..The- jiidgment of the.'Court l-an.'hs.i'olr J ... .]dws:^ , /It:,caii;sc»rfeli;be! suggested -'that 1 there 15 any substantial diversity of in- )' ; r terest between'j:ho\\trfO..,iini()fls f Each \ ■ exists, itvnmy be-assumed. in order, to s . oiitairi''for!.its. members the jiio'st favbttr 1 . able conditions of employment, and-the <1 main, point of difference between the two 1 ; s . ij.';as': to ;;the test means - to-be- adopted I for obtaining this end.' We think, there- J . lore,, that-the Ngahauranga Union .is. not &j.J\ entitled to succeed on this. ground.- * "The .question,' theu, is* as to whether j the Kgah'auraiiga, Slaughternien's Union * has established any. otnec reason for ob- * .' taining. separate registration. This union > comprises' a large majority of the work- 1 v ers,. who are-' now 'engaged, in the, work of 0 slaughtering'in, tho,,district.; Of all the j slaughtermen, now engaged at 1 the works at'Ngahauranga'and-Petone, only three j are members of the Wellington-. Union. 1 All the rest are members of- Ilia iNga- f ' hauranga- .That, union lias made an-agreement with, the two Wellington j nieat'companies as. to .wages, and, other conditions of employment, and, if.it ob- 1 tains registration,' is willing,to have''the ' * term? agisted ;;,upon ' : embodied ~in ' an-'indiistriai... agreement or an. award. The Ngahauranga Union appears, . there- ' '' "*" fdre; >to be desirous of obtaining rcgistra- .j tion- under the Arbitration Act in. order J t6''take''advantage of. the provisions: of t that Act. The AVellington Union, oil.the 1 other hand, has' not shown any such de- J fiire.-"It cancelled-its-registration .under J the - Act,in January: last.in order to get, ' rid of the industrial agreement made-m ' May; 1910, in order;- that (on the es•piration .of that agreement) its' members might engage in a strike, without incurring any penalty. . It »"niade no, attempt, before the cancellation of its registration, to" have the dispute, with the meat com- ] pi}nies.'.iS9ttled,,nn^CT|,.the ■.■.provisions-, of , the Act. Nor didat/make any such at- - tempt-.after .it; had: again registered; on ; In these circumstances the reasqriablo-inference to ,be drawn '.is ' that , ' the Wellington.,,UnionV,obtained,.,its ,re- ; gistrationr not for the Vpui-pose of. making , usa 'of '.the machinery of the Act to.settle ( ■its-disputes, but'.for the - purpose.of - blocking,"-if. possible, the 'registration of "union.. :The . object of the Arbitration-.Act. is to .pro- , vide for ilie , peaceful' settlement . :of all , industrial,disputes,-by the machinery of , conciliation aiid. arbitration. It would . boantolerable if the existence, of a union, j which has played fast and loose with the ( arbitration . .system, as., the. AVellington | Union has done, should bar the .registra-' .tion" of -another. union, .the members, of which liayo a : bona-fide desire to. use the machinery of tho, Act. To hold that to be the-position would be. to enable xhe machinery of the -Act to- be. used- for .the , ■ very purposeibf.defeatin'g the fundamental object of the Act. 'The slaughtermen con- ■ cerned should 'not -be forced;, we think,. ,tiJ . aiscqpt, the alternative of joining, the' -AVelr iington- Union, or of being deprived of the-benefits of conciliation and-ai-bitra-, tion. t .- . .- ■ • -"There,.is the..further objection that, under;its rules, the, AVellington Union is, . , . in,eft'ect,-.a close, corporate. Membership', can 'ohly" be obtained on proving .to the satisfaction of the executive that the np--piicant 'is'a'suit&ble']persbn''to ; 'be'conie a ; member thereof.' It-is difficult to l:ielieve .that the members of the appellant union would be regarded by the executive .of the AVellington Union as suitable persons to'become, members , thereof, .end ' the evidence called by the appellant union goes to shoi?,.that,there.;is-.ill-feeling,ito-r ; ' wards the members;of3hatjinion.on the.- - ' part of some., at least, of. tho members of the AVellington Union. AVe think, . therefore, that for these reasons the, AVellington Union is not a union to which the members, of the appellant union-can" conveniently belong and that the appellant is entitled to succeed in its appeal. The Court reports to the Registrar that * after making full inciuiry in its opinion the Registrar's refusal, to register the appellant union should be waived. "Mr. M'Cullough," continued,, the Judge, "does not concur in ithi»<'judg- , ment. He thinks that the members of the appellant union can conveniently belong to the Wellington Union." .... BTRIKERS CITE THI.'COMPaSIES,,: MATTERS LAUNCHED. TBE PECULIAR SITUATION. , The AVellington Slaughtermen's Union, ■ which went on'strike inL'Janui|i7' last,; have made another move in the game. They have cited the companies in the Wellington, Poverty Bay, and Southland districts as-parties to an-industrial rdis- - • pute." •Mtf'Pr HalljV'Cori'ciliatioii' Cbin-' ' niissioneiv-hay-fixed.-April' next-.asvihe l date I Conciliation Council. The actions of the strikers' union in " this dispute; have' been juteresting, and; not a little perplexing to follow; ■ -They - made a demiind in. the first, pldce'foi ail increase of the killing rate from 255. a hundred carcasses to 30s. a hundred. The companies refused to accede to this demand, but offered 275. 6d.-per hundred. J ' This olfer...was'-4iotacceptedlby tho union, , whereupon;, the; companies offered it to •; mil and ,111 .'the meantime—tliat is to 6ayT'fifter. tto 'first "Refusal by.;the - ' ' companies to grant the men's demands— the union had cancelled registration, and * gone on strike, after due notice given. U'hen, having escaped tho strike-penalties vnrier the Act; they applied :again"for registration, and the' registration was granted. It was generally supposed that their action would prevent any other body of workefs who might be engaged l-j tho companies as slaughtermen from , EPsking tho protection-and benefits of the Arbitration Act, -and' it was. freely. state'd ■ that this was the object the strikers had. iu view. Yesterday, however, the Arbitration Court decided that the new union formed bv tho new slaughtermen engaged to take the strikers!- places at Ngahauranga and P.e'toiie, "tdiild ':be.Vregistered: Now there are-in AVellington two registered unions, both claiming to represent the same Industry. In actual fact the ...en 111 the strikers' union are not in the slaughtering industry'just now-;, the majority of them are: doing other work. It is understood that union Inve..already signed ;.,up,,ail. agreement with'the'-AVellinglon-t companies,-'and-that' it was proposed to register .this agreement ' an'h'wiird. ThisTnaynot-now bo-pos-sible. Altogether, the situation is pecu)i,ir. The new union may bo joined as parties to tho now proceedings, or they

may succeed in getting their award thro.ugh, The, questions involved are mainly questions of interpretations of the 'law,' and they are questions which have never cropped up before. BAKERS & PASTRYCOOKS. The Court, of Arbitration has filed its decision in the matter of the Wellington Bakers' and Pastrycooks' application for '(in interpretation of clauses 2 (b) and 10 of the award. A question was put to the Court ,as follows:— , ... \ Messrs. Godber and Co', employ certain females to do work iu connection with the bakehouse, such as cleaning fruit aiid finishing and packing small goods, and in addition these girls are also employed cleaning and greasing small patty-pans,-papering cake hoops arid unpacking eggs. This latter work ' the union contends lis labourers' work and should be pnid lor accordingly. Answer—The award ivas not intended to interfere with the work which heretofore has been done by girls. If, as stated by Godber and Co., girls iu the past have done such work as that specified, they limy still be employed to do'-that work at the same wages as before.