MUNICIPAL WORKMEN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1382, 7 March 1912, Page 4

MUNICIPAL WORKMEN.

GENERAL INCREASE OP WAGES. Workmen in the employ of the Auckland City Council are to be given a general increase of wasps, amounting to .£4OOO per annum. This course was dneidwl upon by I lie council at a special meeting on Monday orening. flooommowlations were mad© by iho Works Committee and adopted by the council. The following tiililo shows tho increase in the wages per hour of tho various class.es of labourers, with the equivalent wages per day:— Per hour. Per day. s. d. 6. d. s. d. s. d. General Inlwurere... 1 0 to 1 1 8 0 to 8 8 ' sVeaders ... 1 1-J to 1 2 8 0 to 9 i Refuse lifters 1 0 to 1 1} 8 0 to 9 0 I'ine lnvers... 1 lj to 1 2} 9 0 to 9 S Qunrfvmcn ... 1 0 to 1 lj S 0 to 9 0 Mnehinemen 1 2J to I .1 9 G to 10 0 Ineioases are to be made in the wages of drivers as follow:—Singln horso drivers, from £1 Bs. to .£2 10s. per week, to attend l ut stables at G. 30 -11,111. instead of at G a.m.: double horso drivers, from .62 3s. to .C'J 125.; refuse cart drivers, from X' 2 Ids. to £2 15?. The council will be propnred to adopt the eoneral practice in vogue in all other st.ible? in Iho citv with regard to time-on and Sunday work, and will discuss the matter with the Carters' Union, believing that an improvement m the conditions r-sm b<? effected. Tho wages for men enireW in hydiM.nt woilc are to be increased from 1«. to Is.

I{<l. per hour, equivalent to an increase from Bs. to fls. per day. Hoots and rubber protection for tho moil's hands will bo provided. Moil engaged on tarring and sanding work are to receive Is. l}d. pef hour, an increase of Jd. per hour, raising their wages from Bs. Gd. to (Is. per day. Loading hands nro to receive Is. pet (lav in advance of tlio abovo rates. Tin! question of holidays was referred (o tho city engineer to discuss with the .secretary of (lie Carters' Union. ]t was decided hat application should be made to. thn Auditor-General /or t modification of the system by which a ro. cc'ipt l'or wages is required from eac)> workman, and that the paying staff should be increased, so that there shall be lie delay in paying the men. The oily err gineer was instructed to report upon 111 , " monns bv which this could be carried out; The Mayor stated to a "Herald" reprosentativo that, after careful consideratioi", the council felt justified in rccoinmendiiij the increase?, and the betterment of coiv dilions. The result would be that the employees of tho council would iwj» the best paid municipal workmen in Xeiv' Zealand. Ho estimated that the increases would involve an additional expenditure of JMfIOO per annum. It would be n problem for tho Finance Committee to nnd that amount. He hoped it would not b« necessary to increase, the general rate, but careful 'consideration would have to be Riven to the adjustment of tho finances. Mr. Pass, in reply to a. question, fail! that the increases were made without inv posing liny condition upon tlio men; thej will probably come into operation in about a fortnight. . KIIMUERA WORKMEN , . At Monday night's meclhig of lh« liomltera. lioad Board it was resolved, on. the motion of the chairman (.Mr. C. Aj Cawkwoll) that; tho wanes nf the labourers on the general stall should ]k increased to 9s. per dny. It was recognised by the board (hat this action would bo full/ justified in view of Iho increased cost of: living, ami the difficulty in obtaining men of n good si amp. Their present efficient staff had been obtained through a long process of weeding out. Tho chairman wiid that tho action of tho board, .in giving this increase, left no room for complaint upon the part ofthe union so far as the Kemuera district was concerned. On the drainage staff (here were 8!) men, who would receive increased wages. Second-grade men would receive !)s. per day, nnd those in the first grade. 10s. per day. The board, added Mr. Cawkwell, had not had anything to do with the Federation of Labour, and had mode its own arrangements with its own. men. Tho board had not arranged to supply hot baths and afternoon <ea, as the union appeared to desire, but he thought the board's staff of general labourer?, with whom the board was well satisfied, would regard these new conditions as satisfactory,

LOCAL BODIES AND LABOUR. The Auckland City Council has mad* such increases in wages and improve, monts in conditions as must fully satisfy tho wishes of its employees, and the scnlo adopted by the city is to be considered by tho suburban local bodies (says tho Auckland "Herald.") This being the case it is difficult to see what ground-exists for labour disturbance, iu tho civic employment. Tho Federation of Labour, however, is a body which does not appear to need any ground for interfering between Labour .and Capital. .Some months ago it actually interfered, with the public services of the city in order to bring pressure to bear upon the contractors on t.ho drainage works and, if the opportunity is given it, may in a few months again Attempt to stop scavenging, to lay the destructor idle, to cut off the water supply, and to generally oppress the public in order to bring" pressure to bear upon somebody at a. distance whom Ancklanders never saw or heard of. The constitutional way of bringing public pressure to bear upon any employer, near or far, is by the processes provided under the Arbitration, and Conciliation laws, but this does not suit' the Federation officials. What the Federation of Labour aims'.at provoking is practically a state of civil war, this state not to bo finallv settled bv a definite arrangement, but to bo revived time after tinio whenever it. suits the schemes of this syndical-organisation. It is not possible to tolerate such an imposition upon public forbearance. If we are to have tills civil war at any time we mny as well have it at once, and upon the question as to whether or not unregis* tered unions shall be recognised bj; bodies of employers.