A TEST CASE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 253, 15 March 1913, Page 5

A TEST CASE.

AX IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE

THE REGISTRATION OF UNIONS.

By Telegraph.—Per Press Association, Wellington, Friday.

An important case arising out of the slaughtermen's strike is bei/.g heard in the Arbitration Court to-day. It is an appeal by the Ngahauvanga Slaughtermen's Industrial Union against the refusal of the Registrar of Labor to grant the union registration under the Act. The old slaughtermen cancelled their registration, and then as part of their plan of campaign applied for and were granted re-registration. Meanwhile the local works carried on with free labor, and at the Wellington Meat Export Company's Works at Ngahauranga decided to form a union, registration of which was sought and refused by the Registrar on the ground that these men might conveniently belong to the Wellington Slaughtermen's Union. Proceedings today are concerned with an important principle, and are in the nature of a test case. DECISION RESERVED.

Wellington, Last Night. The hearing of the .Slaughtermen's Union's appeal continued this afterjioon.

Sir John Findlay said that the contention of Mr. Skerret was almost wholly beside the real question. There was a, slaughtermen's union in existence, legally registered and equipped by rules, and its validity was not being attacked. An application was made to form a new union in the same calling and territory, and the Registrar had decided-that as Jdiere was a union in existence to which the members seeking new registration could belong, he could not register the new union. The question was: "Is the Registrar right?" He (Sir John Findlay) contended that the Registrar was right. The policy of the Act disclosed that the onus of proving that the existing union did not provide a sufficiently convenient union for certain members was thrown on those members seeking to create a union. It was not contended that there was any diversity of interest between the proposed union and the present union. Each would be doing the same class of work for two companies. Therefore they had complete uniformity of work between them, and a new union was not necessary. He quoted the ease of the Carterton branch of the Wellington Sawmills' Industrial Union, which involved an application for a new union. The grounds raised were much the same as in this case, but the application was refused. He understood the guiding principle was that the unions in each trade should be as representative as possible, and therefore they had now Dominion awards. The trend in New Zealand was to try to make the ' conditions of labor as uniform as possible, so that there should be complete uniformity, most consistent with fairness and equity. To give the slightest encouragement to increasing the number of unions would he fatal to the cardinal principles of the Act. The union did wdiat was perfectly legal in cancelling their registration, and the Court, was onlv concerned with the legal aspect. His Honor: They undertook to renew the contract for two years, and broke that.

Sir John Fiiullay said that, as a union, they were bound morally to renew, but if they ceased to be a union they lost their corporate capacity and were not bound morally. They were quite within their moral and lemil rights in breaking their contract. He submitted that if there had been a reasonable desire on the part of the employers to settle the matter, the present case would not have arisen. The rigid and unbending action on the part- of the employers in the present case had accentuated the difficulty-. At the time the new union applied for registration there was another union in the district, and it was quite obvious that the difficulty between the Wcllinpton Union and the two companies would have ceased if a little patience had been exercised, and a settlement would have taken place. AA'hat he asked the Court to do was to decide in favor of the existing union. If a new union was created—and the only employment in the district was at two works—then the old- union would have to go out. Dealing with the evils that would arise if the proposed union was granted registration, he pointed out that fifteen men could form a new union, and he asked the Court how it could refuse registration. Tn anal ago us circumstances a section of the members could leave a union and accept terms with the employers that would force the. previous union, to which thev belonged, to cancel registration. If this could be done, the industrial system of New Zealand would he destroyed. The Court reserved its decision.