TALLY CLERKS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18404, 10 June 1925, Page 6

TALLY CLERKS.

THE COURT'S AWARD. Tho' Court, of Arbitration has issued its award in the dispute between the Lytteltoiv Ships' Tally Clerks' Union' and the Blackbail' Coal Company (Limited) and other shipping, concerns and "firms. As relating to wages tho award is to Uo deemed to halvo come into force .on May 18th, 1925; as re-gards-other provisions it came into force on June Bth'; it is to remain in force till ■ Ala/ 18th, 1927. : lixcept oh, occasions. of scarcity of labour ho taliy cleric is to be required to tally for -two gangs: when'required to do so h©' is to receive time and oi-aalf (.ordinary, or overtime, rate as thecaso may be). Hours: 8 a.m. to 12' noon,' 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays; 8 a.m. to 12 noon Satur■days. C.'erKs are to be engaged botween 7.t0 a.m. and 10.25 a.m., or-between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays; 7.55 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Saturdays. Any fraction of half an hour to be paid as a full half hour: no clerk to ■be paid for a less j>eriod than 4 hours in any one day between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., on Saturday's between 8 a.m. and 12 neon. Payment for holidays, as agreed to beloro Conciliation Council. Wages: Ordinary time, 2s 4d' per hour; overtime, Mondays to Fridays, 6 p.m. ; to 10 p.m., Saturdays'l p.m. to 5 p.m., 8s 6d per nour; special overtime, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., and 6 p.m. to H) p.m. Saturdays, double ordinary time (4s Sd per h'our). The Court has attached the following memorandum to. the,, aw^rd:—Tho only matter referred ti-' the Court wae tho preference clause. The Union claimed to have a clause inserted similar' to that' appearing in the ■ current Watorsida Workers'. (Uominion) Award. When the Court decided to allow limitation of membership in tho case of the waterside workers, it did so for epecia.l reasons 4nd subject to special safeguards. Tho granting of the right of limitation involved a dcsaiture from the settled policy of the Court. The principal reason for the departuro was tho recognition of the fact that "the waterfront is the jplace to which tie unemployed of all trades gravitate. Tho Waterside Workers' Unions accordingly have to carry more than their fair eharo of the •unemployed" (Book of Awards, Vol. XXV., p. 160s). The work of a tally clerk, however, carmot to - undertaken by, every man who is out of employment, and the factors of reliability and competency to bo given due weight. We aro unable to find any justification for departing from the policy of the open union in the case of tally clerks, and _we aro of tho opinion that if we did so in this instance wo could not logically refuse to da so in the caao of any body of workers whoso employment was of a casual nature.. Wc have adopted tho clausp appearing in the recent Auokland Tally Clerks' Award with a minor alteration. Sub-clause (b) of tie preiorence clause reads as follows: '"When non-Union labour is enroloycd, such men shall be permitted to finish tho job they are first engaged on, but if they then decline to join tho Union the? shall, at tho request of the secretary, be * replaced by the employer with Union men,' if available."