THE PAINTERS' AWARD'

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 289, 2 September 1919, Page 7

THE PAINTERS' AWARD'

MR.' W. NICOL ON CLASSIFICATION. '' Mr.'Wi.'Nicol, president of the.: Master " Painters' Association, states . '.that. the paragraph which : in;: .these CpVuinns. on Saturday respecting , the painters' award might .lend some readers td' believe that-the' terms of the recent award, ttade 'under, Judge.Stringer, are. not "being kept in Wellington. "As a matter of;-fact" said Mr. Nicol,_"we are ; in sympathy, with the classification idea. •We have felt for a long -time* that the good man was suffering an injustice owing 'to the maximum pay. becoming..the minimum pay, and-, have realised that' it was not a fair tiling; that . indifferent .-.tradesmen .who iturned.- ou unsatisfaotori' vork should fe paid as much as a,.'good tradesman who did honest work. Conse-quently-there-has been , discontent amongthe.'good men, who,, quite argue that tliey should, get a higher- rate of pay than the man who does not-know life job." 'Mr; Nico-1 added that hei- had had a ring from ouo of to say that a-man. he had;,sent- out .to a job did not kno\y. how: to 6top nail-holes, . and another report had been received'.to the effect that. a man who had'irepte6ented himself as a did not Jciow liow "to lay on-his-work." The trouble, 'according to Mr. . Nicol, -was due -to abnormal, conditions. -There - was a'.great deal .of house-buying.-going on im Wellington at present time,, and nearly leveryone going into a house liked to have -it dono up. This made a great deal of rush work, and necessitated the 'employment of mon who .were not:always up to the mark.- Still the-tendency on the parirof. the'employer'was to pay, well' for good work; to level up .the standard' instead of reducing it, which could only bo done by classification. :