WAGES INCREASES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 188, 26 August 1937, Page 7

WAGES INCREASES

-Presfl Assooiation.)

Their Cost . to County Councils HEAVIER RATE BURDEN

(By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, Last Night^ Investigations made by the New Zealand Counties AssociatiCn show that the wages paid to counties' outside sta£s have increased by 30 per cent, or at^ ieast £250,000 a year, as the result of;, the introduction of award rates of pay,, the president • of the .assooiation (Mrj C. J. Talbot, . of Fairlie) - told the; biennial conference' at. Wellington .to-,. day. This, with the rise in the price : p£ material used in construction and.t maintenanc'B wo'rk, will be ccrtain to give county , ratepayers a considerable^ increase in their rate burden. Mr Talbot said the Industrial Con-' ciliation and Arbitration Aet of 1925 had exempted locaL bodies and conse-' quently thOro had been a, period of xest|bctwCen county councils and employers. In June, 1936, liowever, the section which sheitore'd cbiinty cofincils from tho passing industrial stor'ms had been ropealed and they had to endure a continuous bombafdniont from various labour uniohs with tho conditions of; propOsed awards; This naturally caused; some unrest and anxiety among county I councils, but the handling of all the j disputes through the assooiation gradu-j ally restoted confidence. Mr Talbot. went on to say that the' change-over to the award system had been made quietly.and effectively. All phases of - county. outside work had been affected ahd now endeavours were being made in . some industrial districts to bring clerical staflcs of county councils under.au award. '■ Common s.ense dic- r tates thfit onff s'eparate union embTacing all county -cihployees would be prefer- . able to half a dozen differeut unions crcating disputes with our county councils," he said. "Early in 1936 an attempt was made to form a union embraclng all county cmployees, but pressure from some of the labour unions caused the Minister of Labour to veto the proposal. Ijtowever, with the advent of a County Council Union of Employers our original objective may be Teached and all our dealings made with oue union sCCretary."