PROSECUTION FAILS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 14, 9 October 1937, Page 7

PROSECUTION FAILS

-Prfcqp Assoeiatiori t

Alleged Victimisation of County Workers CLAIM FOR PENALTIES

tliy Tptpersph-

" jm OHRISTCHURCH, Last NigfiL ! I Victimisation of a county council'^ Imployees was alleged $n tho Magis trate's Couri to-day when. the Labpui, Pepartme.nt claimed penalties totalling |55 from the Akaroa County Cquncil on four allegations. In his opening remarks Mr Bailey, £or the Labour Department, said that H't a meeting pf employpes of the counfil a councillor 'barg'ed his way in" while under the influenee of liquor, and Ijubsequent evidence also referred to. this. ,The reinark applied by Mr Bailey to the councilior' was strongly objected ffco by Mr. Thomas, counsel for the, county council. The following breaches wero allegod: '(1) .That the deferidants as a party bound by ' the New Zealand Local Bodies' Ayrar^. 4i§iaissed ' from their Omplpy Peter Hoglund and A. T. Rhodes merely because they wero membera qf an industrial union of workers and were entitled to the benefits of- the qward. A penalty of £25 was claimed. (2) That between December 14, 1936, and July 20, 1937, wages were not paid j weekly or fortnightly. A penalty of .; £10 was claimed. (3) That auitable accommodation had not been provided to enable the workers tq change and dry their# clothes and to have their meals. A penalty of £10 was claimed. (4) That between June 1, 1937, and July 5, 1937, tbey took proceedings with the intent of * def eating the prbvisions of the New Zealand Local Bodies* Award. A penalty of £10 was claimed. Mr Bailey said that under the provisions pf the award wages should be paid at least fortnightly unless there had been an agreement between the union and the council. During the Christmas and New Year holidays the workers were callcd upon to go with,out their wages for a period qf six jWeeks. The new award came into force ,on December 14, 1936. A meeting of iemplbyees of the council was held on May 7, 1937, aad was addressed by the ' secretary of the General Labourers' Union. "Hoglund was chairman of the meet- j ing, and we have the sorry spectacle of j Councillor J. Hayward barging his way i into the meeting under the influenee of ) liquor and having to be ordered out by ; the chairmau, who wa? at the time a ! county council empl'oyee," Mr Bailey ; remarked. '"A letter was forwarded to the county clerk setting out a number of breaches of the prqvisipns of the award," continued Mr Bailey. "The .surfaeemen and labourers employed by the council were adviscd oi the termrn- - ation of their employment, to operate on July 2. They were advised, however, that they were eligible to apply Eor positions on the staff. The successful applicants were advised of their appointment as labourers for a period uot exceeding three months and that the council would review the position at the end of, or during, this period. Hoglund and Ehodes were not reappointed." 'Mabel B. Howard, secretary for the General Labourers' Union, said she attended a meeting of the council em* ployees. Hoglund, one of the men dismissed, was in the chair during the meeting, Mr, Hayward, a member of the council, t\rice came in, and Hoglund asked him to leave. The councillor, witness said, was very much undei jthe influenee ef liquor. After Mr. Hayward left, the door. was locked and the meeting proceeded. Mr. Thomas (for the council): Do you suggest that, because Mr. Hayward attended a meeting of the union at which Hoglund was in the. chair, Hoglund was dismissedf . Witness: Yqs, I do. Mr. Thomas: That is, then, the basia pf this charge of victimisation! — Yes. Colin Stewart, clerk to the Akaroa j County Council, read from the minute j book the council 's decision to. reorganise the staff by dismissals and calling for fresh applications, Of 14 old hands, 12 were taken on again. Hoglund and Ehodes were not reengaged, Witness said Mr, P. M. Butler, secretary of the Federation pf Labour, in Wellington, telepboned to him, Mr. Butler described thp council 's action in dismissing the men as "despicable tactics, a flagrant breach pf the awaid, aPd an act of victimisa(dpn and intimidation,'; The, ppuncjl met the next day and decided to takp . ao pction, Witness said he recpived a (elephone message pn September 3 frpm Jlr, T- H. McCombs, M.B., saying ••hat the Labqur Department and the union wero prepared to drop the •harges of victimisation if the council jyould reinstate Hoglund. Mr. Thomas, for tho defence, said he had. never appeared in such a seandalaus labour prosecution. It was based pn the suspicion that Cr. Hayward wps not proud of the incident when he intruded on the labourers' meeting and had told no pne of the incident. Members of the council, in evidpnce, said that, when .the applications the positions were undpr consideration, they w§re not aware that Hoglund had presdded at the labourers' meeting. The Magistrate disniissed the first charge as triyial. He said he fa;led to see where the prosecution had estabLished any of the other charges. He was satisfied the couneillors acted as they thought best in the interests of the ratepayers, Judgment was given for the def endj ant council on tho other threa churscs !