COURT OF ARBITRATION

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1394, 21 March 1912, Page 3

COURT OF ARBITRATION

THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY. DEMANDS OF THH WOItKKItS. J121,00fl INVOLVED. The Court of Arbitration resumed its sittings yesterday. -Mr. .lustice Sim presided, and, sitting with him, were Me.-srs. W. Scott, representing the employers, ; nid ,1. A. .M'Cullough, rcprrsi-iiting II"- employees. The bii.-iiie-s before,the Court was the Woollen Mills depute, in which the employees asked f:.r a Dominion award and inerensrs of pay. The hearing occupied practically the whole of tho day. Mr. If. C. Rcvell and Mr. P. Mnir conducted the ease for the employees, and Mr. W. Pryor appeared for (ho employers. Statement of Domands. The demands of tho union were for a week of -iS hours; overtime to bo paid at the rate of time and a quarter for the first four hours, and time and a half thereafter; a weekly engagement without deduction for loss of lime; preference to unionists. The claims in respect to rates of pay were: Men, from JZi 30s. to £'■! 35., accenting to class of work; boys, from 31s. to 40s. up to tho age of 21; girls, from lis. to 17s. Gd.; and girl workers, from 30s. to uos. Counter Proposals. Counter proposals were submitted by (he employers, who agreed to -3S hours constituting a week's work and to overtime at the rate demanded, subject to (■lie stipulation that any time lost, by any worker in any one week, through his or her own default, should he deducted from any overtime worked by the worker during that week before he or she should bo paid overtime rates. There was also a further stipulation that nothing contained in-the proposals as to hours of work, overtime, and holidays should apply to watchmen. As lo the terms of engagement, tho employers proposed that one week's notice in writing of termination of the engagement: should bo given by either sale, such notice not to be necessary where work was prevented owing to accident to the mill or machinery; and, further, that where, owing to slackness of work or the exigency of trade, it was necessary to work short time, tho employer should distributo the work as evenly among all classes of workers as circumstances perinitlrd, and in such case workers should only be paid for tho time actually worked. In the event of any of (he mills being closed down for a holiday at the retim'st of the majority of the workers in any particular mill then, in siu-h ease, wages should only be paid for the time actually worked. Minimum Rates. It was further proposed that girls should be paid from Bs. per week (first year) to 14s. per week (third year), and thereafter at present rates; boys, from Ss. (at 14 years of age) to :12s. at 21 years, and thereafter at 4:>s. per week, with special rates for night work. Male workers ever the age of 21, employed as wages hands, to bo paid the following minimum rates:—Wool-sorters, 50s. per week; tuners, 5Gs. per week; warpers, Ms. per week;.pattern weavers (hand loom), 48s. per week; spinners, 80s. per week; enginedrivers, 545. per week; firemen. 4Ss. per week; carpenters, 60s. per week; blacksmiths, GOs. per week; engineers, GOs. per week; improvers, 455. per week; unskilled workers, 425. per week.

The proposals also included clauses referring to piecework, flue-cleanimr, and under-rate workers, and the following clause relative to preference:— "No employer in employing labour shall discriminate against members of the union, or shall, in the engagement or dismissal of hands, or in the conduct of his business, do anything directly or indirectly fey the purpose of injuring the union. Where . members of tli.o union and non-members are employed together thero shall be no distinction between them, and Imth shall work together in harmony and shall receive equal pay for etiual work."

Case for the Employees. Mr. Revell, in opening, referred briefly fo the conditions that had tirotißht about 119 dispute. The employees found (hat with the h:g i price of rent and the increased cost of living, their wages were inadequate to provide for themselves and families, i'.videnee would be called (o show that the rates of pay compared unfavourably with that for similar work in oilier branches of employment. Peter Muir, soeYetary of (he local union, put in returns showing the rates of pay of members of the union. Twentyseven men, who had an average experience ot fourteen years and iive months, earned on an average £2 Is. 7d. weekly, if thev vorked lull time. Five, men on piecework averaged ,C 2 4s. 2,1. a week. Witness declared that on an average tho members of his union paid 13s. (id. a week for rent, mid (here were, on (ho average, three children in each family. Witness also furnished returns showing the average weekly earnings of the w.imcn, girls, and boys employed at tho mills. There were 100 employees at the works eligible tor union membership, and of (his number 130 wero registered members of the union. Rates of pay in the industry compared unfavourably with I hose of general labourers in other branches of employment. Witness quoted different figures in support of this. He was astounded, ho said, when he took up the secretaryship of the union, to find how low the rates of pay in the woollen mills were. To Mr. Pryor: Employment at the woollen mills was a good deal more permanent than the employment of the averago general labourers. Evidence was also given bv C. P. Brocklebank and other employees'of the Petone \\oollea Milk A female witness stated that she and other members of her family lind come "to New Zealand to work because there was no work to bejiad in the industry in the Old Country, whereas employment was permanent here. Industry Would be Imperilled.

Mr. Pryor, in opening the case for the employers, submitted that tho conditions °t the employees in this country were better than in any other country" in the world. The industry, however, was in a declining stat;, and local manufacturers were finding difficulty in competing with foreign producers. ]f t], P dcu.ands of the employees were conceded, it would not only imp?ril the industry, but would wipe it out altogether, because throughout the Dominion it would mean an increase of .£21,000 per annum to (he oust of manufacture, in fact, the London manufacturer would be able to import his wool irom New Zealand, ami (hen send the manufactured article nut hen- again to be sold at a. pricj that the local manufacturer could not compote, with. Mr. Pryor submitted that certain inconsistencies' in the demands showed that, they had lx>en drawn up without thought, and without regard fo:- the welfare of (he industry. Heforo calling evidence, Mr. Prvor.'i'or the information of the Court, put in returns coveruing the woollen industry for (lie last ten years. From 11100 until" 1911 there had been an increase of 101 per cent, in such imports as blankets, rugs, and other similar articles that could be turned out at the New Zealand mills. Allowing for the increase in population, the increase ot imports per head was nearly iiO per cent. Against this, the output of the New Zealand mills over the same period had actually decreased by Hi per cent, per head of population. 'Another return set out figures In show that each .£'looll increased expenditure enabled the Jiriti.-h manufacturer to ship to New Zealand material of the value of .CSOOO. Demands Involve £21,000. Taking the whole of the Bomuion. the increased expenditure, under the demandwould be X'2I,ODO, meaning an increase in the imports of J:1«'J,00I) per annum. This sum represented nearly one-half of (he value of the output ot the New Zealand mills. Evidence was next called (o support the employers' objections. Walter Hnmsden, malinger of the Pelone Woollen Mills, put in a return showing what the demands of the employees would cost his lirm. Worked out on the amended proposals the cost would be over .Kllfl!). Witness also put in a return showing I he wages paid at the mill, lie reviewed the different demands of the employees and (he objections he had to many of these. Witness then proceeded to discus? tho question of piecework. Tlin Honour ialittuitwl that it was umiloss discuasiup; any items of a log. Tho

tourl had never yet drawn n)i a piecework lo;;, and wa.s not to stall, now. II tin- employers and emplovees could not agree upon a liiy it e o uld not be embodied m the a»:inl.

IMIIIT Wit 111-OS Were T. It. Lcillu'.id, manager of hi:- Kjiiaimi Wentlin .Mills; \\. ■ '• Wuinl. manager 01 the Woollen .Mills; David Patterson, managing director "I II"' «'ii ni Woollen .Mills; llobt. (.'. lilcndiniiig, manager ct (lie Itoslvu WuolliMi Mills; .Mm i.inii', managing director of J.ll ni-, Wiill;.-r, .-mil ]fii(l!;in, J.td., Asliburton; -\. 11. Hiimsdcn, iiml Joint .MTrno, niaiuupr ul' ll lu Canterbury Woollen Mills. Minimum Wage the Difficulty. His Honour a~!<cd il' ;mv attempt hX been made io settle the iiiiilii-i- liv cuuciiiation. •Mr. Pryor said an otlempl li.-ul lx-en made in ( uiilerburv, Ijtil hail proved futile. The chief ililiitull'.v confront ma the empl'.'yois was Iho nii'iiiiiiuin wage. In answer lu a (|ii!'v|iuu l.'V .Mr. M'Cullo'.iga, -Mr. J'nor denied lliiii any oli'i'l- of :i, -las. mii'.iniuin hail been niaiie, conditiiuiiil on a Dominion i'wnnl.

-Mr. Itevell: You made it yourself. Mr. l'ryoi- said Hint was not so. lie had staled that, he would try mid get the employers to const-lit to that, but they would not.

Jn reply, Mr. Kcvoll said that despite the employers' evidence as to the decline of the trade, and the increase of imports, I he fact remained that nearly all the mills iiiul enlarged operations in tho past ten years, and official figures showed a gradual increase' in the hands employed at the industry, viz.: JBIIS, 3039; l'Jli'J, IBM; 11)11, 175(i. Even if the total cost of the demands meant an increase of .£21,000 to the employers, that represented only about •fill per annnai for every employee, or less than lis. a. week. He could quite understand that the employers found difficulty in obtaining lalxiur. for no man with any.am-' l.'ilion would send his son to work at a trade where after 20 years of labour he could only look forward to earning two guineas a week. The Court reserved decision and adjourned until 30 o'clock 1 this morning