SHOP ASSISTANTS' WAGE DEMANDS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 139, 29 June 1937, Page 5

SHOP ASSISTANTS' WAGE DEMANDS

1 — — — A Boomerang Effect on Tne Employees? 8 OR MUST.CONSUMER PAY? The statement that the retailers Qt the Dominion, in addition to the very heavy increase of wages last year, were now faced with demands which, if granted, would hurt employees by the pressure on empioyers tq Yeduee their employment of labour to a minimum was made by the ehairman, Mr C. Griifiths, at a meeting of the Hastings Ketailers' Assoeiatdon held yesterday to consider the award demands of shop assistants. | At present, he said, traders carxied a staff eufficient to deal with eustomers at the few rush hours. In the aggregate a large number of shop assistants had to be found work to fill their tiiue during the periods when customere were few and far between. To meet rapidlyri&ing costs ^od to be able to continue service without ruin, there were only two ways open: first, to give the service with thq least amount of labour possible; and second, to pass the cost on to thq consumer. In maay instances, Mr Griffiths' added, thq latter way of esc&pe was inevitable; in some instances, competifion on a lower-cost basis preventqd such a natural sequence. It Wm necessary, therefore, to place the facts before tho publie, for they would have to bear the heavy end of the burden. Mr Griifiths then invited suggeetions that could. be considered by the committees ^ppointed to act. Three ObjectionB. By Tequest, the eecretary, Mr H. B. French, explained the measurqs already taken. The three outstanding objections to the application, he said, werq the lessened opportunaty for -the employment of juriiors, which with the demqnd for the increase of wages tp seniors to the maximum of £8 10/r a week practically meant the doubling of the cost pf running businesSes as well a9 the tfstriction of employment; thq application of the same wage-scalq to small country businesses which might raise the xates of costs to turnovqr to trqble that of cities while the living expenses qf assistants in country centres were " lower than in eitiee; and thq intrpduction of a 40-hour week whereby qo yfiops were to open on Saturday. The Hastings retailers, he a.ddqd, hqd reeognised the ad'vantagq of thq beit standard of living that it was posaible to maintain witk safety; such resultqd" in increased business. But the rapid increase of costs lessened thq purchaging power of the people. Becqnso of that, the Hastings retailers had cpnsistently asked for the ab.oHtion of thq ' high exchange and of the saleq-tax. Those imposts pressed the heqyiqqt upon the poorest, and because thpir crippling effect on trade was hidden in the price of the article, their burdqn was not realised as it ought to bp. The demand for a full holiday pa. Saturday without concern for thq shopping needs of the publie. would probably never have been prpposed by shop qssistants. It should be knowq thaf many proposals for awards wqrq cqpcocted by union secretaries, who. ia some instanpes had no practical experience of the industry they were agitating. Whoever had drawn up the present extreme proposals was not disclosed, fiut the assessors nominated to act on behalf .pf the shop assistants wero all 1 anion secretaries, every one pf th.q seven. The Minister of Labour, Mr. French pointed out, had had to deal with the award supppsed to be for the bqnefit qf shearers and which had been such a hardship on the workers that relief • bad had to be provided. Thqse who were supposed to represont thq shearers in pressing for that award wero all union secretaries. If compulsory union* ism were essential, then the nien in . control should be workers in thq if* dustry they had to represent, Some of tho Demands, Mr. H. W. C. Baird thought the 1934 award was a satisfaetory basis for negotiation. The present basis of payment on the agq of the employee had created much hardship. A yqung womqn qf 22, desperately in need of work but without experience, must be paid £2 3.2/6 a week, he said. It barred such a person from obtaining employment. The proposal under consideration defined a departmental manager as tha senior assistant in a department who, if more than able to handle a limited ■ volumq of business without any . help at all, nndertaking perhaps the swe.eping of the pavqments to fill in timo, demanded that he er she shquid bq pqid £6 10/- per week, £7 if one assiatant was there to help, £7 10/r if the'rq were two helpers, aud £8 if there wesq three. Dominion awards required a variaupq of payment to meet the diffierencq of ccnclitions between the provinciai towns and the cities, Mr, Baird declared. Mr. V. Westerman pointed out 1 further disability on the continuanco of employment of assistants as well u the barrier of age preventing many who wished to enter the service from doing so. He referred to the periodio increase in wages irrespective of any increase of efiiciency. It tended, ho 3aid, to force the employer to dischargq such assistants who, if out of a job, would find great difficulty in . finding afibther, '• Mr. Thompson said that an unfqe* cessful endeavour fiad been niade tqf mcure- in the butchers 7 award differeu* tiation for country towns, Mr, E, E. Bott stressed the' necessity Eor fighting to retain the right of tha publie tq do their business at the tiroa inost vsuitable to them, which in Haat« uigs was pn Saturdays. Mr. G, H. Epuch said thaf tfiq onus )J opposipg the applictslqn nfggid fqll U q considerqblq mqasurg pn tha Drapers7 Federation, A cpnferenqq was tq be held in Wellington on July 2, md every endeavour wpuld be made tq 'earn the views oi traders in provia:ial towns. Tlie committee apppiuted 3y this qsspciatioii wqfild mqqt Ngplqr lelegatee, and the points veferred fqvould have full consideration, -