PLUMBING TRADE

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 35, 5 November 1942, Page 8

PLUMBING TRADE

Workers Seek Shorter Term Of Apprenticeship

An application to amend the M ellington plumbers and gastitters’ apprenticeship order dated November 30, 1938, to provide, that the term of apprenticeship should be five instead of six years, was made to the Court of Arbitration by the Wellington branch of the. N.Z. Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Related Trades Industrial Union of Workers. The union also asked that the award be amended to provide for the following rates of pay for apprentices:—Fifth six months, £l/12/-; sixth six months, £1 17/-; seventh six months, £2/2/0; eighth six months, £2/7/6; ninth six. months, £2/15/-; tenth six months, £3/5/-. The union asked that the rates for the eleventh six months at £4, and for the twelfth six months, at £4/5/-, should be deleted, also that Clause 10 should be amended to provide that apprentices should be paid during the fourth and fifth year at a rate not less than 7/6 a week in excess of the minimum rates provided in Clause The court comprised Mr. Justice Tyndall and Messrs. W. Cecil Prime (employers’ representative) and' A. L. Monteith (workers’ representative). Mr. JI. Thompson, secretary of the union, said that the ground on which the application was made was the acute' shortage of plumbers and gasfitters. The present term of apprenticeship of six years was retarding apprentices from entering the industry; and there was monetary loss to apprentices serving six years, as compared with apprentices serving a five-year term in other building trades. Present and post-war requirements in the building industry necessitated additional tradesmen being trained in plumbing. Cross-examined by Mr. J. R. Hanlon, who appeared for the N.Z. Federation of Master Plumbers and the 'Wellington Master Plumbers Union of Employers, Air. Thompson said that not five per cent, of employers had their full quota of apprentices. In opposing the application, Mr. Hanlon said it was considered just as essential now as at any former time to have a six-year period of apprenticeship. This, he contended, was borne out by the results of the examinations conducted by the Plumbers’ Board of New Zealand. The work of plumbers, ]>articularly those engaged in sanitary plumbing, must be' of a high standard to comply with the rigid requirements of the Health Act and regulations and poor workmanship might act to the detriment of the community resident in a locality of considerable area. The employers asked the court to be satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt before allowing any alterations either to the term of apprenticeship or to the wages which had been fixed after many years of proved satisfaction.

Mr. Hanlon asked the court, in view of the fact that the dispute might develop into a Dominion-wide one, not to impose compulsion on the employers till. those in other centres had been heard.

Mr. Justice Tyndall said that it might be necessary for the court to hear other parties involved, such as the Health Department and the Education Department.