A NEW DEPARTURE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2292, 10 September 1908, Page 2

A NEW DEPARTURE.

OBJECTION TO AWARD.

WORKERS IN PROTEST.

[Press Association.]

WELLINGTON,, Sept. 9, le Arbitration Court to-dav, Mr. Reardon, secretary to the Laborers Union, took exception to the new departure by the Court in stipu--I'iting that if a. strike occurs all parties are released from the award He contended it was unfair to workers, and quoted instances of smalt » 1 r ;e ,S. e(l strikes at Wanganui and in \\ elhngton of which the. Union had no knowledge, yet they would have affected the whole of .the laborers under tho award. >

Judge Shu asked if the Laborers’ union was not affiliated to the Wei--1 mghon Trades and Labor Council, which had upheld the bakers’ strike. Mr Reardon said it was, and that it appeared necessary to help the strikers at. the time. They endeavored to bring tlie strike to an end and were defeated.

His Honor: Why did not tho I trades and Labor Council pass a resolution disapproving of the strike instead of approving of .if? Your leaders want to have arbitration and strikes, too. If you can’t get a tiling bv arbitration you strike. That is simply the position at present. Your union may not be directly responsible for one small strike, bjit indirectly they are responsible by the action of tile union loaders in approving of a strike. They appear t 0 approve of strikes if any workers go out on strike. Instead of obeying the lav they break it.

Mr. Reardon: We claim to withhold our labor if we think fit. This has been recognised in British lav since 1525.

. His Honor: And you must do it in concei t in order to get by coercion something you cannot get by arbitration. .

At Hie same sitting, Mr. Pryor, secretary of the Employers’ Asssociatmn. appealed for the exemption of public bodies employing general laborers from industrial a yards. Tie argued Hint they -were really Government bodies and had n 0 business in tile ordinary sense of the word and, moreover, were influenced by election in a way that prejudiced ordinary employers and led them to grant ridiculous rates. On the other hand, they sometimes, in periods of distress, found temporary work for unemployed and they could not do this if bound by oil award.

Judge Sim said die could not decide such a question off-hand; Any change would require careful consideration, and in the meantime local &o™w„ir e ,o lo i> " tics **