RIGHTS OF WORKERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 June 1920, Page 5

RIGHTS OF WORKERS.

REFUSAL TO DO OVERTIME. WHAT CONSTITUTES A STRIKE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. Judgment in cases arising out of the refusal of certain workers in the allied iron trades to work overtime last September was given by Mr. J. E. Wilson, S M., tp-day. The Inspector of Awards claimed £2OO each from the Auckland, Boilermakers' Union and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and £2OO from R. F. Carter, secretary of the ln.--t-nnuied union, and £4OO from A. Phillip, seeretai-y of the two other unions.

Judgment for £SO was given for plaintiff ngainst each union, and judgment was given for the union secretaries on the grounds that the claims against them might be treated as being alternative to the others. The Magistrate said he had found that workers individually had a right to refuse to work overtime, and in the caße of an individual he would have to find that he had not been guilty of striking. In Hie present case, under the direction of their union, the men had refused overtime, not as individuals, but as r body, as a means of compelling certain employers to concede certain payment to other workers. They, therefore, converted the Tight or privilege into a means of compulsion as against those employers. The Magistrate considered this constituted an unlawful strike.