AN INDUSTRIAL ANOMALY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 209, 4 March 1914, Page 6

AN INDUSTRIAL ANOMALY.

PAIXTKUS AND PAPERHAXGERS. XO liJllllT TO WOUK. When the existing industrial agreement between the master painters and paperhangers of Taranaki and their employees came into being it was the subject of unfavorale comment. Some of its terms were such as should never have been permitted by anyone pretending to the least knowledge of the conditions of the trade which it controls. An exemplilieation of this was furnished in the Magistrate's Court at Xew Plymouth yesterday, and some diffusion took plate on a clause which on the face of it appears to be most anomalous. It denies men the right to work.

The Inspector of Awards, Mr. Slaughter, proceeded against Xippert Bros., of Now Plymouth, for having permitted ! their employees to work overtime, thereby constituting a breach of the industrial agreement governing the trade. Mr. A. 11. .lohnstoue, who appeared for the defendants, at once admitted -the oll'encc against clause .'! of the agreejuent. which fixed the hours for journey■men painters at from S a.m. to j p.m. on live days of the week, and from S ■a.m. to noon on Saturdays, with an hour for lunch, from September I to April 30. From Hay 1 to August •'!! the hours were from 8 a.m. to 4.:!0 p.m., and from S a.m. to noon, with half-an-hour for lunch. Xo journeyman painter was allowed to make up lost time, no matter how urgent the work, and this in a trade which was peculiarly dependent on weather conditions. Xippert Bros, had contracted to paint the Xew Plymouth High School during the boys' holidays. They had found it necessary to push on the work on a Saturday afternoon. The men had voluntarily worked on that day, and weir ■paid for it. This was a breach of the agreement. •Mr. Crooke, S.M.: What is the object of this clause? Mr. Johnstone: It is hard to say. One would think that if the agreement had come before an Arbitration Court, the Court would have struck it out. / We long ago left behind us the time when ■men were refused the right to work. The clause should have been objected to. Mr. .Johnstone then asked for a conviction without a line.

The Magistrate pointed out that it was not a case of conviction. The action was by way of a civil claim for a penalty for breach of agreement. lie could not give judgment for the plaintiffs without awarding some penally. The Inspector of Awards stated that •he did not desire a heavy penalty, ile merely wished to impress on employers that they must observe the agreement. This was the first case of its kind in North Taranaki. and would serve as an example. Employers were ratjier prone to think that industrial agreements need not he so strictly observed as Arbitration Court awards. The employers had had a month in which to object to the award, but did not do so. It could not be altered now until its expiry. Mr. Crooke remarked that apparently (the agreement had been ill-considered. He must give judgment for the plain till', while considering the clause in question an anomaly. He accordingly awarded a nominal penalty of 10s. The next development in connection with this agreement will he the prosecution of the men for working on a Saturday afternoon.