REVISING AWARDS
HARASSING CONDITIONS
AN EMPLOYER'S VIEW
Although a strong believer in the Arbitration Court as a means of deciding the rate of wages to be paid, Mr. V. E. Hamilton,' president of the Canterbury Employers' Association, holds the opinion that there are too many harassing conditions stipulated in the awards of the Court.
"During the year," said Mr. Hamilton at the annual meeting of the association on Tuesday, "our association and the federation in Wellington have takon an active part in the Arbitration Court's proceedings in Wellington which resulted in a reduction of 10 per cent, in wages. From my personal contact with many employers. 1 am confident that not one desired the standard of our workers to be reduced, and I know that an earnest desire' exists so to reduce the cost of living that existing standards may be maintained. If we are to survive as a nation, it was inevitable that .costs ;must, be reduced to enable us to compete in world markets.
"Kecently," he added, "a .demand for the abolition of the Arbitration Court has been; noticeable. . This^ I think, is regrettable, as it is necessary to have some tribunal to fix conditions, and no better machinery than ours has yet'been devised. It is obvious that without the' Court; every employer will be forced to come.down to the lowest standard set by any unsciupulous employer if he is to compete, and this is most undesirable. There is the fact, too, that as deflation proceeds and aa the cost of living goes down, the Court provides a constitutional method of adjustment between employer and employee, and surely it is desirable that such adjustment should take place in a constitutional and regular manner. The time, however, is ripe for a thorough revision of all .awards with a view to cancellation of the hundreds of harassing restrictions which are useless to the worker and; a source of annoyance and hindrance'to employers, such, for example, as the provision in one award that girls engaged for washing afternoon tea plates may- not wash kitchen plates without altering the whole internal arrangements ,of the kitchen and raising.the wages paid to the cooks." •-." '■.-••■. .;■■.''■'.;■"■' '■'
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 81, 2 October 1931, Page 12
Word Count
360REVISING AWARDS Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 81, 2 October 1931, Page 12
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