SUBURBAN WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 116, 13 November 1939, Page 10

SUBURBAN WORK

EXHIBITION JOB

ARBITRATION COURT

JUDGMENT

Judgment on two applications by the Inspector of Awards for interpretations of the New Zealand Builders' Contractors' and General Labourers' Award, one of which" concerns work done at the Centennial Exhibition, has ! been issued by the Court of Arbitrajtion from Auckland, where the argument was heard. Tlie point at issue involved the meaning of suburban I work as defined by clause 8 of the award. j The Court's judgment said that in the ! first case the Stellin Construction Company, Limited, was a land develop- ; mental company with offices at Customhouse Quay. For some time the | company had employed labourers on roading and street formation works on its Strathmore Park Estate, comprising approximately 55 acres. Strathmore; Park was five and .a half miles from Te Aro Post Office, Wellington. .An enclosed yard where goods and maI terials were stored was established on the property and those roads and streets extended from two to three miles from the depot. In these circumstances the point at' issue. was whether the term "shop of the employer" was limited to the enclosed yard, or might the whole estate be regarded as such for the purposes of the suburban work clause (8) of the award? If the yard was held to be the shop of the employer, would labourers who worked away from the yard be entitled to the benefit of travelling time from one and a half miles from Te Aro Post Office to the job?

Concerning the second application tlie judgment outlines the facts thus:— "Fletcher and Love (The Fletcher Construction Company, Limited, and the Love Construction Company, Limited, in conjunction) are contractors for the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, which is approximately four and a half miles from the Te Aro Post Office, Wellington. The firm has a number of separate contracts for the execution of work on the Exhibition and amusement park site, comprising an area in all of approximately 55 acres. Fletcher and Love have established their headquarters on the site, including offices, workshops, and au area for the storing of timber and other goods and materials. In addition, sheds have been established in various parts of the grounds for storage of tools, etc.

"In the above circumstances—(l) Is the 'shop of the employer' the whole of the area of approximately 55 acres? (2) If the answer to (1) is in the negative, (a) Is the shop of the employer limited to the area where the workshop is situated and the timber and other goods and materials are principally stored? or< (b) may the firm also have a shop at each of the several other points wbfere tools, etc., are stored? If the answer to 2 (b) is in the affirmative, is. a labourer working in the immediate vicinity of, but not actually in, the shed on work in no way connected with the storage or keeping of goods and materials in the shed, employed in the 'shop of the employer'?"

After dealing with the argument of Mr. P. M. Butler for the union and Mr. T. O. Bishop for the employers, the judgment said: "We cannot agree that the whole area of 55 acres may be regarded as the shop or place of business of the employer, nor can we agree that the employer may have more than one shop or place of business. The-word 'shop' in clause 8 (a), as well as the words, 'any shop, office, store, or other recognised place of business, 5 used later in the clause, are in the singular. We agree that there is nothing in clause 8 to prevent an employer, whose work is beyond the prescribed radius from the Te Aro Post Office, from having his shop or place of business at the site of that work, but we hold that any work done beyond the actual site of the workshop itself, including the yard or depot, must be regarded as suburban work. Hence the answer to the first question in the case of Fletcher and Love is, No, and to the second question the answer is that the shop of the employer is limited to the area where his workshop is situated, and hence there cannot be a shop at each of the several other points where.tools or materials may be stored. In respect of the Stellin Construction Co., Ltd., the answer to the first question is that the shop of the employer is limited to the yard or depot, and so the whole estate may not be regarded as such. The reply to the second question is that all work away from the yard or depot is suburban work."