WORK AND WAGES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2870, 7 September 1916, Page 7

WORK AND WAGES

TWO DISPUTES PLASTERERS WANT MORE MONEY BUTCHERS' HOURS

Yesterday tho. Oourfc of (Arbitration 'continued' the- hearing' of disputes ' in 'Wellington. Tho Court consists of .'Judge Stringer (president), Mr. -W. Scott (employers' representative), and Mr. J. A. M'Cullough (workers' reprc'Bentative). '■'■■.•...'• In the morning the Court heard tho plastorers' dispute. Mr. W. A, Grenrell appeared for the employers, and* Mr. J5. Kennedy for the workers. Tho ohicf point in dispute was wages. Mr. Kennedy said that the union asked! for an increase in tho rate of pay from la. 7jd. per hour to Is. IOJd. Bo said that ls. : 7£<l. might ho considered a good wage, hut tho fact was that the ■meu' only knocked out about £2 10a. 'per- wcok, which, ha claimed, was so little ns;to make oxistonoo rather hard' for them. The reasons tho men ' did not make a bigger weekly 'income wero that their, work wns-wisual, much time was lost in waiting for buildings to be sufficiently forward .-for them to' commence, and farther, time wae wasted in following work from placo to place. These conditions mado tho work, -very different to the conditions prevailing in fixed industries'. • His Honour: Those conditions havfl always prevailed. . Mr. Kennedy: Yes, but they are getting worse thnn previously. 'Mr. Kennedy.said that-in tho last .16 years the plasterers had 1 only, gained! an increase of Is. l}d. por Week, and they were about to get ona hour per week less work. In the. same time other trades' had secured advances in pay, notably the.'wharf,labourers, who in seven years had advanced from Is. 3d. per hour to Is. Bd. per hour. Robert, Burton, a plasterer of 30 years' experience, was oalledl by' the union.. Ho said that in-1914 his earnings averaged £2 7s. lOd. per week, and in 1915 £2 9s. 2d._ He hadlost about a quarter of h'is time in waiting I for work. In the last 16 years he had earned £2572, which averaged £3 Is. lOd. .per week. ' • : Other similar evidence was called. ' Mr. Grenfell argued that the'present rate of pay was high enough. Evidence given by some of : the-men; showed that they earned £3 per week and over. Tho- president of tho Builders and Contractors' Association, Mr. W. H. Bennett, stated that Ms plasterers lost' practically no time on account of wet weather. , . The Court reserved its deoisionl

BUTCHERS'DISPUTE; The butchers' dispute was heard in the afternoon. Mr. Grenfell represented tho employers, and Mr. J. Nind appeared" for the employees.' Respecting this case, an agreement ou all points was arrived at before the Conciliation Council some time ago. By that agreement the men's wages were to bo increased to the following rates: First shopmen, £3 165.;, second! jshopmen, £3 os.-; first small-goodsmen, £3 15s;; other workers and general hands, £3;. casual rate, Is. 6d.; hands under 16 years 155., 16 to 17 £1 2s. 6d.,' 17 to 18 £110s., 18 to 21 £1 15b.,

; -Mr.'Nind..said that the reason why. theiinion was now disputing the agreement which had boon arrived at before the Conciliation Commissioner was that since the agreement had been reached the Court of Appeal had given a decision which rendered the preference clause, void,- and had the workers' re-, prcsentatives before the Council of Conciliation kuown that that clause was tobe struck put they might not have given way on certain matters. Mr. Nind went ou to state that the union now sought an alteration in the hours of work. . At present the trade, worked under .the Shops and Offices Act, which said that a man :should rot have towork . more than five hours at a stretch. However, that provision was ■ broken ■ here as a practise, through men having, to work from 7 a.m. to 1. p.m. on- the day of the -weekly".half-holiday. In Auckland this was overcome by a system of fixed hours, and ho asked that tho same should bo made to apply to Wellington.

Mr. Grenfell. said that since the 'agreement mentioned had been arrived at most of the employers had been paying the higher rate of wages. As to the application for a chango in the working hours, in', the absence of evidence that tli© present conditions were not satisfactory, the Court would not ho justified in making any alteration. Meat was a highly perishable /article. It was brought into town early in the inornings, and someone had to be at the shops to receive it, •especially in the summer. Now, by arrangement between the employers and the.work-, efs, the men began at 7 a.m. and worked without a break till 1 p.m. This was not strictly, in accord with the Act, but it was done for the benefit of the men. . The only alternative would be to start the men at 6 a.m. and give ffiem an hour for a meal between 7 and 8, but that would not snit the men, as it would lengthen their working day by an hour, and many might,have to buy their breakfast in town. Also, it would surely be highly inconvenient for many to get into the city in time to start work at 6 a.m. Ho did not think the men desired, such a change. His Honour remarked that Mr. Nind had not made out a very good case for departuro from the conditions now operating in Wellington. However, tho Court would consider tho matter. .:•.'.'