MOTOR MECHANICS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2382, 11 February 1915, Page 11

MOTOR MECHANICS

.QTIESOTON'.OF AN. AWARD... Within tie last few months motor •mechanics in the Wellington district have been moving for an award. At Palmereton North, Napier, Wanganui, and Masterton the following agreement was arrived at with the employers on the understanding that an award should not come into force until the Court of Arbitration was satisfied that conditions in the industry were normal:—Hours are not to exceed forty-eight per week. Overtime is provided for on the usual oonditions, also working on certain, holidays. Wages are fixed at Is. 3d. per hour for cycle mechanics and Is. tyd. for motor mechanics. Apprentices are to serre five years, their'wages to range from 7s. ,6d. to 355., and they are only allowed in the proportion of one ap-. prentice to two journeymen, or fraction of the first two, but when an apprentice has completed his third year the employer may take on a fresh apprentice. Improvers serve a term of one year, and have to be paid 50s. per week. Present arrangements in respect to apprentices are not interfered with,, provided that the employer shall, within one month of the publication of tbe award, send notice of the arrangement to the Inspector of Factories in the district. In the preference clause, the employers are relieved of any responsibility in this matter,' and under no. circumstances can an employer be prosecuted for any breach, but an employee taking_ engagement in future must join the union upon receipt of a request from the secretary, and unless. he does so within seven days is liable for a breach of the award. The question of an award for . the trade'was discussed in Wellington yesterday before tbe Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. P. Hally), and the position now is that the Wellington employers are to indicate whother they will meet the employees in three weeks' time or whether they propose to adhere to their original decision not to proceed with the dispute. ' The assessors present yesterday were; For the union, Messrs. T. Bruce, W.. Bell, and A. Freeman; for the employers, Messrs. Inglis, J. Bett (Palmerston North), G. A. Scott, and H. Eodgers. Mr. W. A. Grenfpll, secretary of the Employers' Association, attended, and he stated that the parties had met and considered the time inopportune for altering the conditions of the industry.