GENERAL LABOURERS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1609, 28 November 1912, Page 4

GENERAL LABOURERS.

DEMAND TEN SHILLINGS A DAT.

The General Labourers' Union has serv« ed a demand upon the City Council for an increase in the wages of general labourers employed by the council, as permanent bauds, from Bs. Gd. per day to Is. 3d. per hour, or 10s. per day. Casual labourers employed by the council are now paid Is. lid. per hour, or 9s. per day, and this is also the rate paid by private employers. The council labourers are working at present under an informal agreement, and with private employers under ah award which was made in 1907, and would have expired, by effluxion of time in 1909 but for the rule that an award remains in force until a new ono Has been made.

The union is thought to have timed ita demand with an eye to the municipal elections, whioh will take place in April next. If the matter' is not settled in ths meantime, labour candidates for the council will no doubt back the union's demands. In well-informed circles the belief prevails that the real objective of the union iis a minimum wage of 9s. per day for labourers employed by the oouncil us permanent hands, and a corresponding increase for casuals. The demand of the union is considered quite unreasonable, since it would make the remuneration of labourers disproportionately large as compared with the wages paid by private employers, and to the tramway and other employees of tho oouncil. It is not unlikely that the council will refer the union's proposals to the Arbitration Court, and that the upshot will be an award governing the whole body of general labourers, whether they'are employed by the council or privately employed.