DIFFICULT TO ANSWER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1612, 2 December 1912, Page 6

DIFFICULT TO ANSWER.

UNION OFFICIAL'S POSITION. FOR OR AGAINST TEE STRIKE? In a statement published on Saturday, Mr. ii. J. Keardon, secretary <i' tne Slaughtermen's Union, in reference to the position in. regard to 'the siaugnttji'men's claims and the concellation oi :iie registration of the various unions, explained liis dual capacity- as secretary at the Slaughtermen's Union and president ot' tho iocal branch of the United Labour Party. "Tne question as to Hiy dual position," he said, "is rather (lithcult to answer. The. question seems to resolve itself into one of arbitration and the Arbitration Court. While, of course, 1 do not pretend,that the Court's memorandum in the tiisbonie freezing works case is a reason for the present action of the slaughtermen, still I think that in a measure the action of the slaugnternien is justified by tnat memorandum. Yo put tho average worker's interpretation on the memo, it is this: that you can got better' results from the strike than tno Court is prepared to give. -Tne memorandum in question is as follows:— "The union now asks for a considerable increase in the wages of all workers'included in the award of 1910. In support of this application it relies on <-iie agreement made in June last (Book of Awards, Vol. Xl?j, p. 309) by the two Wellington Meat Companies, and also on the agreements rnauo recently in connection with the meat works at Wanganui, ili\sterton, and Patea.

"Under these agreements the lowest wage to be paid lor unskilled labour of any kind is Is. 3d. per hour, '.i.'jd the wages to bo paid to the other workers are based on this as a minimum, The highest wage fixed by the Court for general unskilled labour is Is. lid. per hour, and awards with this as a minimum have been made recently in the Wellington and Taranaki districts. In the opinion of the Court it would not be justified in treating Is. 3d. per hour as the pnper minimum for unskilled labour, end the award now made is based on Is. lid. per hour as the minimum for that class of labour. . ,

"Tlie Court is in the habit of giving great weight to agreements made by the parties to an industrial dispute when it is clear that these agreements navo been made voluntarily, and that employers admit that the wages fixed thereby are fair remuneration for the work in question. Wβ are not satisfied, however, that the agreements relied on in this case aro of this character. There was no information before the Court from the companies concerned as to the circumstances in which the agreements were made, but it is difficult to believe that the companies would have agreed voluntarily to fix Is. Bd. per hour as a minimum for unskilled labour, aud there is ground for suspecting that the agreements must have bt'en obtained by pressure which tho. companies at the time were unable to resist. The Court therefore cannot accept these agreements."