This Act may be cited as the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1936, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1925 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

Whereas it has been judicially decided that the definition in general terms of the expression “industrial matters” contained in section two of the principal Act is in some respects restricted by the specification in paragraphs (a) to (f) of the said definition of certain matters as industrial matters: And whereas it is desirable that all such restrictions of the general definition be removed, and that the definition be further extended as hereinafter appearing: Be it therefore enacted as follows:—

The Court shall of its own motion, within three months after the commencement of this Act, make a general order fixing a basic rate of wages for adult male workers employed in any industry to which any award or industrial agreement relates, and, by the same or a similar order, shall, within the same time, fix a basic rate of wages for adult female workers so employed.

Any general order made under this section may from time to time, at intervals of not less than six months in any case, be amended by a subsequent general order made by the Court, either of its own motion or on application made to the Court by any industrial union or industrial association.

Every general order made under this section shall come into force on a date to be specified in that behalf in the order.

In fixing a basic rate of wages under this section the Court shall have regard to the general economic and financial conditions then affecting trade and industry in New Zealand, the cost of living, and any fluctuations in the cost of living since the last order, if any, was made under the authority of this section.

The basic rate of wages for adult male workers fixed under the authority of this section shall be such a rate as would, in the opinion of the Court, be sufficient to enable a man in receipt thereof to maintain a wife and three children in a fair and reasonable standard of comfort.

Except as provided in the next succeeding subsection, while any general order fixing a basic rate of wages remains in force, no adult male or female worker employed in any industry to which any award or industrial agreement relates shall receive less than the basic rate of wages for male or female workers, as the case may be, anything to the contrary in any such award or industrial agreement notwithstanding.

Any general order made under this section may make provision for the issue to any worker of a permit to accept a wage lower than the basic rate of wages. The provisions of section one hundred and forty-five of the principal Act (providing for the issue of permits to accept a wage below that prescribed in any award for ordinary workers) shall, so far as applicable, apply with respect to the issue and duration of permits under this subsection.

Where at any time after the passing of this Act application is made for the registration of any society (including a trade-union) as an industrial union of employers or as an industrial union of workers, and there is in the same industrial district an existing union of employers or of workers, as the case may be, registered in respect of the same industry (whether or not the maximum number of members of that union is limited by its rules or otherwise), or there is in the same industrial district an existing trade-union which was registered as such before the first day of May, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and to which the members of the applicant society could properly belong, the Registrar shall not register the applicant society as an industrial union except with the concurrence of the Minister.

This section is in substitution for section eleven of the principal Act, and that section is hereby repealed accordingly.

Any society that is lawfully associated for the purpose of protecting or furthering the interests of employers or workers, as the case may be, engaged throughout New Zealand in or in connection with any specified industry or related industries may, with the concurrence of the Minister but not otherwise, be registered as an industrial union of employers or as an industrial union of workers, as the case may be, if the Registrar is satisfied—

Where a union is registered in accordance with this section, the name of the union shall be “The New Zealand [Here insert descriptive reference to the industry or related industries concerned] Industrial Union of Employers”, or “The New Zealand [Here insert descriptive reference to the industry or related industries concerned] Industrial Union of Workers”, as the case may be, and the reference in the registered name to New Zealand shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of section seven of the principal Act that the name of the union shall specify the locality in which the majority of its members reside or exercise their calling.

Where application is made for the registration of any society as a New Zealand union of employers or as a New Zealand union of workers, as the case may be, in connection with any industry or industries in connection with which there is not, at the time of application, any existing registered union of employers or workers, as the case may be, the society shall, subject to the provisions of the last preceding section, be registered on compliance with the requirements of section five of the principal Act.

Where application is made for the registration of any society as a New Zealand union of employers or as a New Zealand union of workers, as the case may be, in connection with any industry or industries in connection with which one or more unions of employers or workers, as the case may be, are then registered under the principal Act, the Registrar shall refuse to register the society as a New Zealand union unless he is satisfied either—

On the registration of a New Zealand union of employers or of workers the registration of all existing unions of employers or workers, as the case may be, connected with the same industry or industries shall be deemed to be cancelled unless the Minister, by direction in writing given either before or after the registration of the New Zealand union, otherwise determines in respect of any such existing union or existing unions. No such direction shall be given by the Minister in respect of any existing union unless he is satisfied that a majority of the members of that union desire that its registration should not be cancelled.

The registration of a New Zealand union or the cancellation of the registration of any union in accordance with this section shall not affect the operation of any industrial agreement or award in force at the date of registration, but all such agreements and awards shall continue in force until superseded or otherwise terminated in accordance with the provisions of the principal Act, and while so in force shall be binding on all employers and workers who would be bound thereby if the New Zealand union had not been registered or the registration of any other union had not been cancelled.

While a New Zealand union of employers or workers, as the case may be, is in existence, in respect of any industry or related industries, the Registrar shall not register for any industrial district or other locality any society as a union of employers or workers, as the case may be, in respect of the same industry or industries, unless he is satisfied that not less than two-thirds of all employers or workers, as the case may be, who are engaged or employed in the district or other locality to which the application relates are members of the society in respect of which the application for registration is made.

The provisions of sections five to nine hereof shall apply with the necessary modifications to permit of the registration as an industrial union of employers or as an industrial union of workers, as the case may be, of any society lawfully associated for the purpose of protecting or furthering the interests of all the employers or all the workers, as the case may be, engaged in or in connection with any specified industry or related industries, in the North Island, or in the South Island, or in any two or more specified industrial districts:

Provided that no society shall be registered under this section as an industrial union of employers unless it has a branch of not less than three members in each of at least two industrial districts, and no society shall be registered under this section as an industrial union of workers unless it has a branch of not less than fifteen-members in each of at least two industrial districts.

In the application of the provisions of the said sections five to nine hereof to unions registered under this section, or to applications for the registration of any union under this section, all references therein to “New Zealand” shall be read (as the case may require) as references to the North Island, or to the South Island, or to the particular industrial districts concerned, and all references therein to existing unions shall be read (as the case may require) as references to unions registered in respect of an industrial district in the North Island, or to unions registered in respect of an industrial district in the South Island, or to unions registered in respect of some industrial district directly concerned in the registration, or the application for the registration, of the new union.

Section fifty-eight of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting after’ subsection one thereof the following subsection:—

Subsection four a of section forty of the principal Act (as set out in section two of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1932) is hereby amended by omitting the words “prescribed by regulations under this Act”, and substituting the words “appropriated by Parliament for the purpose”.

If a settlement of an industrial dispute is arrived at by the parties in the course of an inquiry held before a Council of Conciliation in accordance with the provisions of the principal Act, the terms of the settlement shall be set forth as an industrial agreement. Except as provided in the next succeeding section (with respect to the mode of execution), all the provisions of the principal Act relating to industrial agreements shall apply with respect to industrial agreements made under this section.

At any time within one month after any such agreement has been filed in the office of the Clerk of Awards any employer, trade-union, industrial union, or industrial association bound thereby may apply to the Court for total or partial exemption from such agreement, and the Court may grant such exemption accordingly or may refuse to grant exemption.

The fact that application for exemption from the terms of any such agreement has been made and has not been disposed of shall not relieve any person or any union or association from his or its obligation to conform to the agreement:

Provided that where application for total or partial exemption from the operation of an agreement to which this section refers is made as aforesaid by any employer, trade-union, industrial union, or industrial association that was not bound by, or that was wholly or partially exempted from, the provisions of any former award or industrial agreement for which the first-mentioned agreement has been substantially substituted, such employer, trade-union, industrial union, or industrial association, as the case may be, shall, pending the determination of the Court on the application for exemption, be exempt from the operation of the said agreement to the same extent, as nearly as may be, as he or it was exempt from the operation of the former award or industrial agreement.

Every industrial agreement made under the last preceding section shall be executed on behalf of the parties by the assessors.

Section fifty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “by all the parties thereto, or their attorneys or representatives”, and substituting the words “on behalf of the parties by the assessors”.

The execution of any industrial agreement by assessors pursuant to this section shall be conclusive proof that a settlement in terms of the instrument of agreement has been arrived at by the parties to the dispute.

If a settlement of an industrial dispute is not arrived at in the course of an inquiry held before a Council of Conciliation in accordance with the provisions of the principal Act, and no recommendation for the settlement of the dispute is made by the Council in accordance with the provisions of section fifty-four of that Act, the Clerk shall forthwith refer the dispute to the Court for settlement, and thereupon the dispute shall be before the Court; and in the meantime the Council shall endeavour to induce the parties to agree to some temporary and provisional arrangement to operate until the dispute can be determined by the Court.

The last preceding subsection shall apply with respect to disputes existing at the commencement of this Act as well as to disputes that may hereafter arise.

When notification is given to the Clerk of Awards, in accordance with section fifty-three of the principal Act, that a settlement of an industrial dispute has not been arrived at, and the Council has made a recommendation for the settlement of the dispute in accordance with the provisions of section fifty-four of that Act, the Clerk of Awards shall, as soon as practicable, give notice in the prescribed form to the parties to the dispute of the filing of the recommendation and of the place where it may be seen, and shall require them, if they disagree with the recommendation, to signify their disagreement within one month, and, if they so desire, to state reasons for their disagreement.

If within the time aforesaid no notice of disagreement has been filed, the Clerk shall as soon as possible thereafter give to the parties notice in the prescribed form of the fact that no notice of disagreement has been filed, and the recommendation shall, as from seven days after the date of that notice, operate and be enforceable in the same manner as if it were an industrial agreement; and the Clerk shall endorse the recommendation accordingly.

If any party to the dispute duly signifies his disagreement with the recommendation the dispute shall be referred by the Clerk to the Court for settlement, and thereupon the dispute shall be before the Court, and the Court may, after hearing any of the parties that have signified their disagreement, incorporate the terms of the recommendation in an award.

If it appears to the Court that any reason given for disagreement with the recommendation is trivial or frivolous it may disregard such disagreement, and the parties so disagreeing shall be deemed to have concurred in the recommendation.

Sections thirteen to sixteen of this Act are generally for the purpose of restoring to the Court the jurisdiction in relation to industrial disputes which it was empowered to exercise prior to the passing of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1932, and sections five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and fourteen of that Act and the Schedule thereto are hereby repealed.

Section fifty-eight of the Finance Act, 1933 (No. 2), is hereby repealed.

In every award made after the passing of this Act the Court shall make provision to the effect that, while the award continues in force, it shall not be lawful for any employer bound thereby to employ or to continue to employ in the industry to which the award relates any adult person who is not for the time being a member of an industrial union of workers bound by that award or who is not for the time being a member of a trade-union which was registered as such before the first day of May, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and which is bound by that award.

In every industrial agreement made after the passing of this Act there shall be or be deemed to be included therein a provision to the effect that, while the industrial agreement continues in force, it shall not be lawful for any employer bound thereby to employ or to continue to employ in the industry to which the agreement relates any adult person who is not for the time being a member of an industrial union of workers bound by that agreement or who is not for the time being a member of a trade-union which was registered as such before the first day of May, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and which is bound by that agreement.

Every award or industrial agreement in force on the date of the passing of this Act shall, on the expiration of one month after that date, be deemed to be amended as if there were then inserted therein a provision to the effect that, while the award or industrial agreement continues in force, it shall not be lawful for any employer bound thereby to employ or to continue to employ in the industry to which the award or agreement relates any adult person who is not for the time being a member of an industrial union of workers bound by that award or agreement or who is not for the time being a member of a trade-union which was registered as such before the first day of May, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and which is bound by that award or agreement.

Every person who is obliged to become a member of any union by the operation of the foregoing provisions of this section shall be entitled to become a member of that union on application made in accordance with its rules, and in so far as the rules of any union are inconsistent with the provisions of this subsection they shall be null and void:

Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply so as to oblige any union to admit any person to its membership at any time while its maximum membership is fixed by or in accordance with any award or order of the Court if by the admission of such person the prescribed maximum membership of the union would be exceeded. Any award or order made by the Court (whether before or after the passing of this Act) in so far as it fixes the maximum membership of any union shall be deemed to be within the jurisdiction of the Court.

Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, the following provisions of this subsection shall apply to permit the employment of non-unionists in the special circumstances hereinafter mentioned, namely:—

For the purposes of this section a person of the age of eighteen years or upwards, and every other person who for the time being is in receipt of not less than the minimum rate of wages prescribed for adult workers by any award or agreement, shall be deemed to be an adult.

With intent to secure the effective operation of any award, the Court may include therein all such provisions as it considers reasonably necessary, and in particular may include provisions to confer on the secretary or any other officer or representative of any industrial union of workers power to enter at all reasonable times upon the premises of any employer bound by the award, and there to interview any workers, but not so as to interfere unreasonably with the employer’s business.

Any provisions that are expressed in the award to be made under the authority of this section shall be deemed to relate to industrial matters within the meaning of the principal Act, and may be at any time revoked or amended by the Court, of its own motion, on such grounds as to the Court seem sufficient.

In every award made after the passing of this Act the Court shall fix at not more than forty the maximum number of hours (exclusive of overtime) to be worked in any week by any worker bound by the award unless, in the opinion of the Court, after hearing representatives of employers and of workers, it would be impracticable to carry on efficiently any industry to which the award relates if the working-hours were so limited:

Provided that no such award, in so far as it fixes the maximum weekly number of working-hours at forty or less, shall take effect before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-six.

Where in any award made after the passing of this Act the maximum number of hours (exclusive of overtime) to be worked by any worker in any week is fixed in excess of forty, the Court shall indicate in the award the grounds which, in the opinion of the Court, made impracticable the fixing of forty hours as the maximum number of hours to be worked in any week.

On application made by any industrial union, industrial association, or employer bound by an award or industrial agreement in force at the passing of this Act the Court shall, by order made as soon as possible after the filing of the application, amend the award or agreement by fixing at not more than forty the maximum number of hours (exclusive of overtime) to be worked in any week by any worker bound by the award or agreement, unless, in the opinion of the Court, after hearing representatives of the employers and the workers concerned, it would be impracticable to carry on efficiently any industry to which the award or agreement relates if the working-hours were so limited. Where on application made under this subsection the Court declines, on the ground of impracticability, to reduce to forty the maximum weekly working-hours provided for in the award, it may nevertheless amend the award by reducing the maximum weekly working-hours provided for therein so as to provide for a maximum intermediate between forty hours and the maximum provided for in the award.

Any order made under this section before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, shall take effect on that date, and every other order made under this section shall take effect on a day to be fixed therein in that behalf, being not later than one month after the date of the order.

Where by an order of the Court made under this section the maximum number of hours to be worked in any week, as fixed by any award or industrial agreement, is reduced, any rates of pay fixed in the award or agreement shall, if necessary, be increased, either directly by the Court or indirectly by the operation of the order, so that the ordinary rate of weekly wages of any worker bound by the award or agreement shall not be reduced by reason of the reduction made in the number of his working-hours.

In any order made by the Court under either of the last two preceding sections, fixing at not more than forty the maximum weekly working-hours, the Court shall endeavour to fix the daily working-hours so that no part of the working period falls on a Saturday.

Section ninety-two of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “specified” from paragraph (6) of subsection one thereof, and also from the third proviso to that paragraph. Subject to the provisions of this section, the powers conferred on the Court by the said paragraph (including the said proviso), or by subsection three of the same section, may be exercised in respect of any trade-union, industrial union, industrial association, or employer, whether specified in the order of the Court or not.

The said section ninety-two is hereby further amended by repealing the first proviso to paragraph (b) of subsection one, and substituting the following proviso:—

Where the Court, pursuant to the powers conferred on it by section ninety-two of the principal Act as amended by the last preceding section, extends any award so as to join and bind as party thereto any unspecified trade-union, industrial union, industrial association, or employer, any such trade-union, industrial union, industrial association, or employer may, at any time within one month thereafter, apply to the Court for total or partial exemption from the award, and the Court may grant such exemption accordingly or may refuse to grant such exemption.

The fact that application for exemption from the terms of any award has been made under this section and has not been disposed of shall not relieve any person or any union or association from his or its obligation to conform to the award.

Section ninety-three of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to subsection two the words:—

Section one hundred and thirty of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to subsection three the following words: “Any such action that is brought at the suit of an Inspector of Awards may be continued by the same or any other Inspector of Awards”.

Sections one hundred and forty-one and one hundred and forty-six of the principal Act are hereby respectively amended by omitting therefrom the word “six”, and in each case substituting the word “twelve”.

The extension of time for the commencement of actions provided for in the last preceding subsection shall apply in any case where the cause of action has arisen within twelve months before the commencement of this Act.

Section one hundred and forty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “and no subscription exceeding one shilling per week”.

The said section is hereby further amended by inserting, after subsection two thereof, the following subsection:—

Section one hundred and fifty-five of the principal Act is hereby repealed.

Section thirteen of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1932, is hereby repealed.

Without affecting any other civil remedies for the recovery of wages payable to any person employed in an industry to which any award or industrial agreement under the principal Act relates, civil proceedings for the recovery of such wages may be taken by any Inspector of Awards, in the name and on behalf of the person entitled to payment, in any case where the Inspector is satisfied that default in payment has been made.

No proceedings shall be taken by an Inspector under this section in any case where he has reason to believe that any default by the employer in the payment of wages was due to misrepresentations made by the worker to the employer.