WORK AND WAGES

Grey River Argus, 14 September 1937, Page 5

WORK AND WAGES

TIMBER WORKERS RATES. [Per Press Association]. WELLINGTON, September 12. By a decision of the Arbitration Court the wages of workers in timber yards and sawmills in the Wellington industrial district, except within a 25-mile radius of Wellington are to be fixed in relation to the actual hours of work before the introduction of the 40-hour week, and not in relation to the maximum of 48 hours fixed by the award before amended. The Court decided that pay must be adjusted according to the working week observed during the 12 months before the date of the award: The ordinary rate must therefore be multiplied by 48-40ths, 47-40ths, or 46-40ths, as each case requires. AUCKLAND WATERSIDERS. AUCKLAND, September 13. The trouble on the waterfront was settled to-day, when non-union waterside workers decided to return to work pending consideration of their case by the National Executive of the New Zealand Watersiders Federation. .The decision was made at a mass meeting. It is not known exactly when the matter will receive consideration, but it is expected to be in the near future. Barely half an hour after the decision was made, between 400 and 500 non-unionists were engaged on vessels in port. CHEMICAL WORKERS’ AWARD. WELLINGTON, September 12. Conditions of employment in chemical manure and acid works in the Wellington and Taranaki Industrial Districts were fixed by awards of the Arbitration Court dated September 3, 1937. The matters referred to the Court by the parties in Conciliation Council were wages, employment of youths, annual holidays, and stopwork meetings. In respect of wages both, awards are deemed to have come into force on March. 15th, 1937, and both continue until March 15th, 1938. The minimum rates of wages are: Day workers 2s 3d per hour; chamberme'n, 2s SM; shift workers 2s 4d; men discharging shipments of phosphate rock, 2s did; men discharging shipments of sulphus, 2s Gd.