MINIMUM WEEKLY WAGE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 19, 18 October 1943, Page 3

MINIMUM WEEKLY WAGE

Effect Of Court Order The effect of a 'Supreme Court decision at Auckland on the order made last year for a minimum weekly wage iu essential undertakings is now being studied in AVellington. In view of the large amount of money involved it is considered likely that the case will be taken to the Appeal Court. The case, in which a magistrate’s decision supporting the interpretation of an employer' was reversed, concerns particularly the meat freezing industry, but in the North Island, at least, other essential industries are likely to be affected considerably. During the Supreme Court hearing, counsel for respondent, the AVestfield Freezing Company, said that, if the interpretation put on the order by appellant were adopted, it would involve the company in additional wage payments of more than £12,000, for which it would receive no return. Another estimate is that tile total cost to the freezing industry may run into six figures. The South Island is said to be less affected than the North Island.

The case for appellant was that in calculating the minimum weekly wage payable to a worker in terms of the order, "all payments for work outside the ordinary weekly hours of the industry must be disregarded, ami that, if a worker did not earn in ordinary working hours the minimum wage, the difference between that amount and the actual amount earned in ordinary hours should be paid. Respondent’s interpretation was stated by Mr. Justice Callan to be: “A worker employed in an undertaking to which the order applied shall be entitled to have his actual earnings on any day supplemented ns follows; in respect of any day on which his earnings are loss than would have been earned by working full time nt ordinary rates, he shall be paid the deficiency, but so that not more than £5/10/- shall be paid in respect of such deficiency in any one week.” The clause on which respondent relied was referred to by his Honour, who took an entirely different view of its meaning. It seemed to him that instead of cutting down the meaning of the clause requiring that overtime should not be taken into account in calculating the minimum wage to be paid, it provided that special payment for unusually hard work in ordinary hours should also not be brought into the calculation. Though the case concerned men employed on an hourly basis, it is thought that this part of the judgment may be quoted as an authority in the ease of pieceworkers, and the implications of this are now being considered, /