workers were satisfied with the recommendation as a whole, but the former agreed to wave minor points and to accept it. The latter, however, after submitting it to all the federated unions, rejected it, and referred the disputed points, including freedom of employment, to the Court.
The case was ably and exhaustively argued for eight days, and on the ninth day Mr. Justice Williams announced that the Court had decided to give the workers the famous preference clause, which is included in most of the awards that have been given since, but not in all of them.
The first preference clause placed in an award is sufficiently interesting to be given in full. It is as follows:—
“Employers shall employ members of the New Zealand Federated Boot-makers’ Union in preference to non-members, provided there are members of the union who are equally qualified with non-members to perform the particular work required to be done, and are ready and willing to undertake it. When non-members are employed there shall be no distinction between members and non-members; both shall work together in harmony, and both shall work under the same conditions and receive equal pay for equal work. Any dispute under this rule shall be decided by the chairman of the Conciliation Board for the district, under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, or, if he shall be unable or unwilling to act, by some person nominated by him, not being connected with the trade, being a manufacturer or employed in any trade.”
In laying down this precedent, Mr. Justice Williams explained that the Court had been led to its decision by the fact that for three years the bootshops had in practice been filled solely with unionists. Laying stress on this, he indicated that in later cases the Court would give weight to what appeared to be the custom of each trade. It would reserve the right to decide each case strictly on its merits.
There was a battle over the preference question in the Legislative Council in 1898. In that year, an amending Bill was brought down somewhat late in the session. In order to facilitate its passage through the Legislature, it was introduced into the Legislative Council first. In the original Act, as stated before, the title set forth that it was “an Act to encourage the formation of Industrial Unions and Associations.” In the amending Bill, those words were omitted, on the ground that they might be taken by the Court as an indication that unions
