FELLMONGERS AND TANNERS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 149814, 30 May 1914, Page 7

FELLMONGERS AND TANNERS.

DEMAND FOR INCREASED

WAGES.

A LANGUISHING INDUSTRY

The Conciliation Council met" yesterday to discuss' tho dispute between the Canterbury Tanners' and Fellmongers' Union and Bowron Bros.' ExPort and Tracing Co., Ltd., and others. The Conciliation Commissioner (Mr J. R. Triggs) presided, and tho assessors were:—For the Union, Messrs "W. E. Woodham. W. E. 8011, and R. Johnston; for the employers. Messrs Walter Hill, W. Nicholls, and G. E. Wood. THE UNION'S DEMANDS. The Union's demands wero for a 48 hour week, ending at noon on Saturdays, tho hou-.b tu.-ing SJ on tour days, &i on ono day. and -U on Saturday, to bo worked between " a.m. and 5 p.m.; all work done in excess of 8£ hours, or li hours to be paid for at the following rates: —For tho first hour, timo and a quarter; the "next two hours, time and a half, after that double time. Holidays—New Year's Day, Easter Monday, Labour Day, Boxing Day, King's Birthday, Good Friday, Christmas Day, Easter Saturday, local works' picnic day, with the addition of all local race days from noon at Fairfield, local autumn race days for Smithfield and Pareora, Now Zealand Cup day and the 2nd of January, within a radius of 20 miles from Christchurch Chief Post Office. Double timo to be paid for work done ou Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Sunday, and timo and a half for all other holidays stipulated. A ■ general iucrease ot wages for all classes of employees was asked for, the proposed rates being set out at considerable length. The employers T counter proposals were the existing award, with certain general conditions-cut out. A lengthy discussion took place on the question of hours. Mr Hill said that if these conditions were agreed to it would penaliso all those employers who depended on natural drying in the sun for their wool. It did not matter 'to him and to others who used machine dryers. During the wool season there wero many days when no wool could bo dried naturally, and if work had to cease at noon on Saturday, it would not pay tho employers to start work at all on that day. v The industry was not in a healthy condition, and the Union should think very seriously before placing additional burdens on it. If further conditions wero to be imposed, it should bo left to tho Arbitration Court to do co. The' Commissioner: Has tho present clause worked well in the past? WEEKLY HALF-HOLIDAY WANTED. Mr Woodham: It has never been satisfactory. All other trades have had their weekly half-holiday for years, and I don't think that the men in this industry should bo penalised. An industry ought to go out of existence if it cannot givo tho employee a fair deal. ' Why "should an industry bo run at the expense of tho workers ? Mr Hill said that if the half-holiday, were made compulsory during the wool season, from December to May, it would be- next to impossible to. carry on business where wool drying had to be done outside. The industry was not in a flourishing condition.' Of the 40 odd employers cited, only three or' four wero independent, and for the others, it would be a serious matter to penalise i them for the loss of the half-day by their having to pay for that timo not j worked. Regarding Mr Woodham's other statements, he could speak very strongly if he wanted to. It was not tho men wantiug to work who were asking for this clause. If .the men holding out for this were to down tolls their places could be filled at any time. The Commissioner said that it would be very undesirable to close an industry down for the sake of half a day. THE QUESTION OF WAGES. 3lr Hill remarked that tho question of a living wage was largely a matter oi opinion. Some men could live very comfortably on from £2 to £2 2s a week, whilo others earning £2 10s to £8 never had a sou to their names. Mr Bell said that the men had been struggling for years for the principls of the weekly half-holiday. After further discussion, it was docidod to hold over the question of hours of work. Tho question of wages was discussed at groat length. Mr Hill: The demands in.respect of wages are far ahead of what the ememployers consider fair. They represent an increase of from 10 to 25 per cent., and the trade cannot carry that. A number of the small employers muat go under. It might pay mc, because I could then shut up twenty or thirty small men. The trade cannot stand a 10 per cent, increase but it is from 10 to 25 per cent, inoi ease they are asking for. Mr Woodham: Are the employers not prepared to concede any increase? The Commissioner: They aro abiding by tho old award. Mr Woodham :' But they cannot be serious, surely? NOT A FAIR THING. Mr Hill said that the employers had taken up their stand for good reasons. If some of the increases asked for had boon in. the direction of removing anomalies, they might have considered them. But it was an out-and-out demand for from 10 to 25 per cent, increase. Mr Johnson said that Mr' Nicholls was paying Is 6d an hour to some of his mon, und ho thought that the rates should bo levelled up among tho cmployovs. . . The Commissioner pointed out that th© tfnioji wa« ashing Is 6d. as b minita»tm rate. &r jqhnsoa e«id tfeft' re 'tab a emulative trbdn, nnd ho thought that all employers «hould pay *«° 6amo rft to. The .Commissioner; Ymt . would ho spoiling tho employer who is prepared to pay good men a nigh rnto. But what about the mon who is not ablo to cam that? •. ' ' , , .' . Mi* Johiwon! There 8 n provision for under-rato workers, Tha ComiiU3fWncri It w, ft nitefcnks to put in too high a minimum rate. It does more harm than good. A man may be a good worker, but slow. Whore I find men 'are under-paid I am going to do all I am worth to get fhera more. (Hear, hear.) I know tho conditions of this industry, and you are doing the employers more harm than good in - demanding more. I have fixed up an agreement in Dunedin on the basis of the Christchurch rates. Would it be honest for mc to ask these employers to give you more? 3lr Hill said that any employer was prewired to continue paying his present rates even if they were higncr than a rate agreed upon. ■ _ " , The Commissioner: The present rates aro not bad. . , , . Mr Johnson: We are trying to bring all the employee up to the same level. Mr Wood: You cannot bring tho abilities of tho men up to tho same level. ; CLOSING DOWN. Mr Hill: If 1 wo fe tno s am © age as you fellows, I guarantee that I would make 15s to £1 per da y at Is per hundredweight for wool-sorting. I'll undertake to do 15 %vl per day of I crossbred wool, and la older than s most of you. I have been running a i. tannery for tho last eighteen years, i and I am relinquishing tho business boi cause I cannot get 5 per cent, ou my '.. capital. I am putting £0000 worth of machinery on tho scrap heap in my

tannery business. Wo hare the competition of the Old World to face. After further discussion the employers' assessors agreed to give an advance of a halfpenny an hour on all wages under Is 3d per hour, providing tho Union agreed to all the other clauses in the employers' counter-proposals. Mr Bell: That a general advance cf about 2s per week. Sir Johnson: And its all casual labour. Tho employers' assessors retired while the Union 'representatives discujssed the offer. "DYING A NATURAL DEATH." On resuming, it was stated that there was not much prospect of an agreement regarding wages. Mr Hill said that the industry was dying a natural death, and the importations of leather and of boots_ were increasing every year. Tens of thousands of skins formerly fcllmongered locally, wero being exported as pelts. There were now not one-quarter of the number or men employed at "Woolston, compared'with ten years ago. The employers had the markets of the world to compete against, and they must take things as they found them. It might be. Liter on. that tho employee? would have to accept a reduction on tho present rates of There were fewer men in the industry now. and for those remaining it might be that tho earlier they got out the bettor it would pay them.

Mr Bell: Do .you moan to say that the wool industry or New Zealand is in such a condition "that it cannot afford to pay a decent rate of wages? Mr Hill: This industry has always paid wages equal to, or hotter than, those in any other like industry. As far as holidays aro concerned, it would pay uio better to close down for a week than to pay the extra rates asked for holidays.'' \Vo must protect ourselves, you know. Mr Johnson asked if it wero not possible to put the men employed 0:1 a yearly basis, instead of being casual workers.

The Commissioner: Is there much broken time? Mr Hill: Tho employment is fairly permanent in our case, much more no than with the freezing works.

At this .stage it was decided to adjourn until 2 p.m. On resuming, Mr Woodham said that tho Union's representatives had carefully considered the whole question, and had decided that they would accept nothing less, than eight hours per day from January Ist to March 31st, with liberty to work one hour extra per day without any additional rate for overtime; the remainder of the year to bo worked -IS hours per week, tho week to end at noon on Saturday. As regards the wages in the fellmongery department, they were prepared to accept, as a minimum, tho rates recently agreed upon with the freezing companies, namely, Is 2d per hour. For tannery workers they were prepared to accept the specified rates ruling in Dunedin, with a minimum of Is l-}d per hour.

This offer was considered by the employers, who stated that they would not givo more than they had previously conceded, namely, a halfpenny increase in all rates under Is 3d per hour. A number of minor clauses were discussed, and agreements in regard to them arrived at. Easter Saturday was deleted from the list of holidays, and Show Day inserted, tho others being agreed to. Payment for holidays, as per the present award was adopted. Youths' wages wore fixed as follow: — 16-16 years, 15s 6d per week; 16-17 years, 18s 6d per week; 17-18 years, £1 3s 6d per week; 18-21 years, lOd per hour. Tho usual undcr-rate workers, and the Court's preference clause, were agreed to. Clause 10 in the present award, and sub-clauses A to F, referring to general conditions, were al6o agreed to.

The main joints were referred to Hie Arbitration Court for settlement.