CLERICAL WORKERS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 77, 23 December 1937, Page 6

CLERICAL WORKERS

Ptp=P AosOf'infion t

Auckland Union Has Probable Role of 5000 RUSH FOR MEMBERSHIP

(By Telegrraoh-

AUCKLAND, Last Night. An estimated membership of between 4000 and 5000 is expected by Mr. A. S. Herring, secretary to the Auckland Clerical Workers' Union, by the time the rush for applications to join has ceased. In the week since the award was announced, the union office staff has found it difficult to cope with the demands for enrolment by typists, telephone operators, cashiers and general clerical workers for . inclusion in the union roll, for it is compulsory for every person over the age of 18 to become a member. In the event of the union achieving a membership in the neighbourhood of 5000, it probably would be the largest union in the Auckland Province, said Mr. Herring. Over 300 had joined within a week of the award pronouncement by the Arbitration Court. The decision of the Court to award retrospective pay from October 18 to December 13 had come as a pleasant surprise to clerical workers, since the hearing of the dispnte had been the snbject of protraeted delay, and some retrospeetive payments had amounted to £10 in individual instances. Although the award was current only until February 6, 1938, the terms and conditions would hold good until the Dominion award had been determined. Early in the new year the New Zealand Association of Clerical Workers, to which the eight clerical workers' unions were affiliated, would make application for the hearing of a Dominion dispute, said Mr. Herring, and he expected that with the functioning of two Courts of Arbitration, the hearing would not be so long delayed as was the clerical workers' dispute this year.