ARBITRATION AWARDS.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14829, 21 November 1913, Page 2

ARBITRATION AWARDS.

THE DRAPERS' DISPUTE AM) VARIOUS AGREEMENTS. Five awards of the Arbitration Court were filed at the Supreme Court, Christchurch, yesterday morning. Practically with ono exception, the awards filed embodied the agreement of the Conciliation Council, which the parties agreed to accept. DRAPERS' AWARD. The award in the dispute between the Christchurch Retail Drapers' Assistants' and Industrial Union of Workers and the various employers is ! the same as that mado in Wellington j last year (Book of Awards, volume 13, 1 page* t>00). Tho gcopo of the award is J not expressly stated, but apparently j covers the whole industrial district of Canterbury, including Ashbiirton and Timaru. The workers are classified as '•apprentice," a worker who has served less than four years iv the soft goods j trade, "improver," one who has served more than four, but less than six, j years, and "assistant," one who has'j served six years or more in the trade. Assistant's, sixteen years of age and j under, entering the trade without previous experience, are to be p-aid not less than the rates of wages per week set out in the following *cale:—

During the first year of service, males 10s, females 7s lid: second, males 15s. females 10s; third, males £1, females 12s Gd; fourth, males £1 os, females 15s; fifth, males £1 10s, females £1; sixth, £1 17s Cxi, females £1 2s 6d; and thereafter, males £2 los. females £1 7s Gd.

There are provisions for employees over the of sixteen entering the trade, -and in the case of workers of twenty-one years and over, they are to be treated as having entered their fifth year of service, and are to be paid accordingly. A sneoia! clause .states that "any female who is wholly or substantially in a dress, Manchester, dmpery-fiirnishinE. or print department, shall be paid one-half more than the wages specified for •'"females in the said scale.'' Storemen or packers engaged in packing and unpacking soft-goods, and porters are to be paid on the following srale: —Seventeen years of age and under, 10s per week: over seventeen years and under eighteen years of age, los per week: over eighteen years and under nineteen years of age, £1" per week; over nineteen and under twenty, £1 ss; over twenty, but under twenty-one, £1 10s per week; porters ovev fcwentyone years of ago, £'2 os per week: fitoremen and packers over 21 years of age. £2 10s per week. The employment shall be deemed to be weekly, and no deduction shall bo raado from the weekly wages, except for time lost through the worker's sickness or default. Not less than eeven days' notice is to bo given, but nothing in this clause shall prevent an employev from summarily dismissing any worker for -wilful misconduct. Casual hands are to bo paid not less than Iβ 3d per hour, females not less than 10d per hour. Nine whole holidays are allowed, and any work done on Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday shall be paid for at double-time rates, time-and-a-half on other holidays, in addition to ordinary weekly wages. The proportion of apprentices and improvers to assistants m any shop shall not be'- less than an apprentice or improver to one assistant. The casual clause for under-rate workers is inserted.

The usual preference clause hae the following addition:—"ln considering the qualifications of the member offered to replace the non-member, the employer shall be entitled to take into account such matters as the personal appearance and manners of the two work* era. .and generally their respective suitability for the work required to be done." Tho award comes into force on December Ist, 1913. unci continues till November 1914. OTHER,-DISPUTES. . In the dispute between, tho Canterbury Grocers' Assistants' Union and the employers, the recommendation of the Conciliation Council, except in a few minor items, was agreed to. The award. «is far as it relates to wages paid in a radius of five miles from the chief Post Office in Christchurch. will come into force on April 14th, 1914, hiXh in other respects it will not come into force until December Ist. It will expiro on April 24th, 1916. The Court has placed in the form of An award the recommendation of the Conciliation Council in the painters' dispute. The parties agreed to accept the recommendation. The same course was adopted in regard to the dispute in the bootmaking industry, and the timberyards, saw-mills, and coal-yarda industry.