DRIVERS’ CONDITIONS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 146, 16 March 1921, Page 9

DRIVERS’ CONDITIONS

QUESTION OF NEW AWARD

A REJECTED PROPOSAL

An industrial dispute which yet awaits settlement is that in which the New Zealand Drivers’ Federation is concerned. Some weeks ago, the federation drafted a set of claims for a new award, which was forwarded, to the employers with a request that a conference should be arranged for the purpose of discussing tho matter. The employers replied that they considered tho claims unreasonable, and consequently could not agree to meet the representatives of tho federation in conference.

Recently the Drivers’ Federation made a new proposal. Tho federation suggested that the case should be heard by a tribunal consisting of three representatives of either side with an independent chairman, the finding to be registered as an agreement under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. In forwarding this suggestion to the employers, the federation started that it could not agree to submitting the case to tho Arbitration Court, for on a previous occasion the drivers had had to wait for twelve months before they were successful in obtaining an award. Like the federation’s request for a conference, this latest proposal has been declined, and it is not yet certain what the next development in the matter will be. In Dunedin, the employers have cited the local union before the Conciliation Council in order to pave the way for a fresh award. The employers in Dunedin are anxious that whatever decision is arrived at there, whether before the Conciliation Council or the Arbitration Court, should govern the conditions for the carrying industry throughout the Dominion, and it is understood that the Christchurch employers are willing to accent this course. In Wellington, it is argued that the question should ►’;e decided here, seeing that this, is the most central part of the Dominion. It is believed that tho members of the Wellington Union are averse to renewing the agreement which has just-expired, but whether a case for a new award will be gone on with locally, or taken as a matter concerning the whole Dominion does not appear to have been decided.