Merchant Service Guild of Australasia Claimant; and Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association [1920] HCA 39

Merchant Service Guild of Australasia Claimant; and Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association [1920] HCA 39

The claim presented was, on its proper construction, a claim for minimum wage rates, not fixed (maximum) rates; therefore, the Justice should find an interstate industrial dispute exists as to that claim.

Parties
Claimant: Merchant Service Guild of Australasia; Respondents: Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association and others; Respondent: Melbourne Harbour Trust; Respondents: Colonial Treasurer, the Minister of Public Works and the Chief Secretary for New South Wales and the Sydney Harbour Trust
Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
15 June 1920
Procedural Posture
Industrial Arbitration / Case Stated for Opinion of the Full Court
Outcome
Questions answered as per the reasoning of Isaacs, Starke, and Gavan Duffy JJ. (majority): claim construed as for minimum rates; industrial dispute exists; no answers to hypothetical questions.
Legal Topics
Industrial Disputes, Wages—minimum and Fixed Rates, Jurisdiction of Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
Industrial Law Arbitration Industrial Disputes Wages—minimum and Fixed Rates Jurisdiction of Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration

Case Brief

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Parties

Merchant Service Guild of Australasia

Claimant

Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association and others

Respondents

Melbourne Harbour Trust

Respondent

Colonial Treasurer, the Minister of Public Works and the Chief Secretary for New South Wales and the Sydney Harbour Trust

Respondents

Procedural Posture

Industrial Arbitration / Case Stated for Opinion of the Full Court

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Does the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration have power to prescribe or award wages other than minimum rates?
  2. 2 Is the claim as stated a claim for minimum rates or fixed rates of wages?
  3. 3 If an industrial dispute exists, is the Court at liberty to prescribe or award minimum rates thereunder?

Ratio Decidendi

The claim presented was, on its proper construction, a claim for minimum wage rates, not fixed (maximum) rates; therefore, the Justice should find an interstate industrial dispute exists as to that claim.

Court Disposition

Questions answered as per the reasoning of Isaacs, Starke, and Gavan Duffy JJ. (majority): claim construed as for minimum rates; industrial dispute exists; no answers to hypothetical questions.

Orders

  • Justice to decide there is an industrial dispute as to claim 1 in accordance with the answers provided.
  • No answer given to hypothetical questions regarding Court's power to prescribe maximum rates.