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LABOUR & THE COURT

$ A MANIFESTO

A TRADES' HALL DOCUMENT

In yesterday's issue of The Dominion' mention was' made of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council's attitude towards recent Arbitration Court decisions. The council has issued the following manifesto :— "On account of general expressions of dissatisfaction with recent awards of the Arbitration Court, a conference of representatives of the Trades and Labour Council and representatives of unaffiliated unions met to discuss the matter, and have decided to make public the grounds of the trouble.

"The very high cost of. living • is pressing heavily upon the workers, and. the Court docs not seem to grasp the seriousness of the position, much less deal with it'. According to the Government statistician's figures, the increase in the cost of living amounts to 17.57 per cent, since July, 1914, to say nothing of the' fact that it had been steadily advancing: prior to that date. The relief proposed by the Court to be given to the workers is u war bonus of 10 per cent, ou their wages, which would still leave them 7J- per cent, wirs'e off than they were in July, 1914, despite the remarkable prosperity of th„ country. It is natural under these circumstances. that the workers sliouid .be asking whether they have no right to share in the country's prosperity, and whether the conditions which have enriched others must necessarily result ill lowering their standard .of comfort. "Bad as the position is, it is made much worse for'particular sections of the workers by the fact that the Court does not consistently act On its own recommendation. ' Take the case of the Wellington timber workers' award, made subsequent to the above pronouncement: Yard-workers were awarded Is. 2d. per hour, or Id.- advance on the previous award; equal to about 7 per cent, increase instead of the 10 per cent, recommended by the Court itself; ami casual labourers Is. 2Jd. per hour instead of the Is. 3d. stated by the Court itself to be the absolute minimum which casual workers should be paid; despite the fact that the cost of living in Wellington-is higher thnn ■in any other part of the Dominion. The drapers' assistants, who have been before the Court since the outbreak of the war, were successful in getting an increase from J;2 15s. pelweek to. X 3, but the girls only had their wages increased to 30s. per week, which is an entirely inadequate wage and much less than ie paid in Australia tor similar work. The lower-paid men, such as porters and storemen, received no increase at all, their- wage being left at. the old rate of M ss. per week for porters and £2 10s. for storemen, though one would have thought that nien working for such low wages would have had the first claim to an increase.

"Proof of our contention that the Court does not realise how rapidly conditions are changing, and the consequent need to adjust awards to meet theni, is to bo found in the fact that the waterside workers have been able to make better conditions for themselves, by direct negotiation with their employers, than the Court is prepared' to award. They have been, able to agree on a minimum wage of Is. Bd. ; per hour, as against the Court's award of Is. L'd. and Is. 3d. per hour for casual unskilled labour.

"Mr. 'Justice Higgins, President of the Commonwealth Arbitration Court, states .that; as the result of his investigations he finds that builders' labourers usuully lose 20 per cent, of the ordinary working hours, uud as the climate or New* Zealand is much wetter than that of Australia, it is-fair to assume that the builders' labourers in Wellington, or indeed, in any uart of New Zealand, do not lose any less time than is lost •by the ' Australian labourers. This being so, Is. 3d. per hour tor builders' labourers in Wellington is obviously inadequate, as the men on tho average could only earn •£2 -tsi per week, while the Co'Urt .has declared' that-a-.weekly wage 'of -J82'124.' is the absolute minimum living wage. We consider that the wage of casual unskilled workers should not be less than Is. (id. per hour. This rate, subject to the-loss of time, as -stated by Mr. Justice Higgins, only permits, tue 'Workers earning the.sum of M 12s, 9id. per week, or only !)Jd. per week more than the Court itself declares is the minimum living wage.'

"Similar disparities exist between the rates of wages awarded by tho Court to skilled workers, viz.: Is. Gd. per hour to carpenters and furniture-makers, and only Is.. 4<l. fjp such skilled workmen as engineers and boilermakers. The reason given for fixing the minimum wage at Is. 4Jd. is contained in the ■ following extract from the memorandum attached to the engineers' award: 'The Court recognises that the engineering trade is one calling for a' very high degree of skill on ■ the' part oi' the workers, and if the conditions were the same tho minimum rate of wages should be at least equal to that obtaining in these other trades, in these circumstances the Court does not think it would be justified in increasing the minimum of Is. 4Jd. per hour, as fixed by 1 , the former awards.' £lie plea of the employers' agent wlien the case was beard was that the trade was in a languishing condition, and it evidently received full consideration, although the Court has informed agents acting f'pr the unions on more than one occasion that profits earned in one industry were not considered by the CourE 7n making awards. The'position, therefore, seems to be that if the employers can convince the Court that profits are small, wages will bo fixed lower than the Court itself thinks, just, while on the' other hand, if a union agent alleges that profits are large, he is .told that, the Court cannot tako profits into consideration.

"We also desire to take this opportunity to protest against the practice which has grown np in the Arbitration Court of the employers' agent handing in confidential statements, and no opportunity being afforded the union agent to acquaint himself with the nature of the evidence thus submitted, lie being thus placed at a great disadvantage, inasmuch as he cannot make any attempt to rebut the evidaiice thus submitted, nor cross-examine the witness responsible for>it.

"If the-Court does, not bass its awards on the actual, cost of living and does not base theni on the profits earned in an industry, it is extremely difficult for a union agent to guess what evidence will weigh with the Court in tiie absence of any indication 'from, the i Court itself as to the nature of the evidence required. A large number of the workers in this country have hitherto" looked to tiie Court for the redress of their grievances, but recent awards are causing them to doubt the wisdom of relying upon the Arbitration Court."

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160617.2.40

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2799, 17 June 1916, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,156

LABOUR & THE COURT Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2799, 17 June 1916, Page 7

LABOUR & THE COURT Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2799, 17 June 1916, Page 7

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