WAGE OFFER REJECTED

Chronicle (Levin), 10 January 1947, Page 3

WAGE OFFER REJECTED

! DAIRY WORKERS' UNION ; The Dairy Factory Workers' Union representatives refused to entertain the empJoyers ' wuge oii'er at the eonciliaitiou council in Wellington yesterday ' morning. The employers liad inade two oifers: that a basie wuge of £5 5s ' sliould be established for general hands, sueh rate to be iuereased by the norma! , cust of living and adult worker bonuses of £5 15s 3 d and by a special bonus to a gross miuimum weekly rate of £6 0s tui; alternat ively, that £5 0s 8d should be established as a basis, witli no special bonus to be added. This latter olfer would give the worker a gross minimuni of £5 1 7s, as opposed to the present rate of £5 11s 9d. ! "The time is long overdue," said Mr. L. D. Robertson for the workers, ' wheu rates of pay for dairy factory ; employees should be substantiaily increased. We have to compete "with ' other iudustries. and unless rates of pay are favourable the dairy industry will suffer. It must be borne iu mind, too, that the work is seasonal. " 1 I'oints agreed upon by the two parties j so i'ar include the working of a 40-liour week over live days, with no more tlian I eight hours being worked on any one day. Tt was agreed that the workefs should be allowed tlieir two days off conseeutively wherever practicable. Any j worker startiug before 5 in the morning 1 would be paid L's (hl a day extra. ! In his opening atldress, Mr. .T. B, Hanlon. for the employers, stated: ,"When we separated in August last we ; were unaware of any threat of direct action if the claims were not substantiaily met. We assume tjiat tlie industry is no longer under a threat and • that negotiations tvill be conducted in accordance with legal procedure and that if agreement is not reached the Fourt will adjudicate. We e.xpect that there will be true eonciliation in respect of the claims and counter-proposals, . botli of which were meant to be items :for diseussion and variation where necessary. ' '

; Mr. L. D. Robertson, tor tlie umon, j stated that there had been mueh stTess j and strain throughout the industry of J late. Tle hoped that an amicable settlement would be reached and that it ; would not be necessary to go before ■the Arbitration Court. The possible nccessity of the eoun- ; cil's continuing its meeting next week, owing to the slowness of progress, was . ! put forward by the Conciliation Comi mis.?toner ('M r.' S. Ritchie) this morn- | ing. He said that nothing definite 1 would be decided at the moment, but . the assessors should bear it in mind.