Shearers' Dispute.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 May 1910, Page 4

Shearers' Dispute.

THE QF EST lON IN AUSTRALIA. AHORTIVE COXFEPENCE. i RepresenitPitives of the pastoralists associations in most of the Sta.tes and of the Australian Workers' Union met in conference in Melbourne on the Ith instant. The object of (the conference was to endeavour to come to an agreement , on matters relating to conditions of employment and rates of pay in the pastoral industry. An award < i the Federal Arbitration Court regulates the conditions of employment of all who are directly connectcil with the work of shearing. That award is bLinding only until June 12th next. it was thought, that n conference between the representatives of employers and employees might result in an agreement. t which, if it did not obvinite altoj gopher an appcitl to the Court, 1 would at least narrow down the / issues to be submitted to it'. Mr W. E. Abbott (N.S.W. I'as- ; toralis'ts' Association) was appointed chairman. Mr Leslie Smith, secreitary of the Pastoralists' Assoc.i- ---( at ion ; and Mr T. Wliyte, secretary ( of the Bourke lira licit of the Ausj ttralia.it Workers' Union, were ap- ( pointed serotaries to the conference. / The legal ndvisors of both sides were ) present by invitation. I The repi-eseititatives of the pastor- ? alists announced .at tlic outset that \ they wished to obtain reductions of the aiWard raes. Tho exact, amounts I of the reductions were not specified. The Workers' Union representatives puit in a complete Hiedule of the • changes they wished made in the aArard. These were far-ronching and material. They asked for an • increnso in. every rate or pay. The I wOf'o I cost with "good and sufficient ratioins cooked by a competent person, 'to be .engaged -and remunerated bv the employer." The value of being "found" is set down in th'e arbitration nwa.rd as 18s a week in most of Queen.sliand, and at 13s a week in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, nml the Darling Downs, and part of the Maranoa. In calculating the of shed hands, theso amounts per week r'eciuire to bo added. In <uldiition to these requests for higher nates, the Workers' Union representatives proposed to include station, hands under tibe terms of the agreement. Tbey accordingly submitted a schedule of wages rates for them, too. These were framed on the same scale as the rates for' shearers «nd shed hands. With the submission of these proposals the conference practically ended. _ Tho representatives of tho pastoralists had not expected anything of the kind, and they declined to discuss the new proposals, beyond declaring that they woro out of the question. In the words of tho official statement issued to the Press by the con for en ce, "It >wias found that ithe parties' claims wore so divergent that there was no prospect of a satisfactory settlement -being arrived at on the principal questions at issue._ It was therefore decided to adjourn tho conference sine die." PRESENT POSITION.

The position at present is th>at the arbitration award will expire 011 -Inno 12th, and -there is nwtihing ready to itake its place. Tho Australian Workers' Union will atowce initiate proceedings in tho Federal Arbitration Court for « new a.wartl, but this cannot be obtained for some time. In 1907 the hearing of tho case occupied 22 days, and then a preliminary conference that! cleared the around of all _ but tho vital issues. Shearing will be iin full progress in New South Wales by the end of July, and ther© will bo no award by then. The Workers' Union has instructed its members ito continue work under tho terms of the 1907 award, but to arrange .that any contracts which may run into .the currency of the new award .shall be subject to it. By aereement, similar instructions Irnve been senit out by the pastoral ists' associations to all their members. _ There will therefore be no dislocation of the industry or interruption of work.