THE FLAXMILLS DISPUTE.
STATEMENT FROM UNION/ t Wo have received the following letter for publication from the Secretary of the Flaxmills Employees’ Union :~ (To the Editor.) Sir. —A special meeting of the . Union was held on Saturday, June 21st, and 1 was instructed by it to place before you and the public generally the facts in connection with the dispute between the Flaxmillers’ Association and our Union. They are as follows : ■ Since December 4th, 1017, we have been working under an agreement which stipulated for a minimum wage of 14s per day in the mills, this agreement was terminable by either side on 11 days’ notice being given. On May 10th we received a letter from the Flaxmillers’ Association dated May 14th, giving notice to terminate the agreement. On May 241 h our Union held a special meeting, at which it was decided to ask' (he employers to meet representatives of the Union to consider the drawing up of another agreement to lake the place of the one it was proposed to cancel. This resolution was conveyed to the employers —the time and place of the proposed conference being left to them. As the result of the foregoing, a conference was arranged for June 2nd, but on Friday previous thereto a point was raised by the millers' representatives to the effect that one of the Union delegates was a man- whose name appeared on the military defaulters list. Mr Hillier, one of the Union delegates, immediately got into communication with Mr A. Seifert, when it was arranged that Air Hillier should meet Messrs A. Seifert and R. T. Bell in Palmerston N. and discuss the new position, the outcome being that Mr Bell journeyed to Foxtou and interviewed-Air H. Berry, the president of the Flaxmillers’ Association, re the trouble, and met Mr Hillier at Shannon the same evening, informing him that the objection had been overcome, and that a conference would lake place on * flic following Monday. The next day Mr Bell waited on Mr Hillier, and informed him that the millers would not meet the delegate objected to by them. Every effort was made by the Union delegates on the Saturday and Monday to overcome the difficulty, but unfortunately without avail. We called another special meeting for June 7th to consider the position. Prior to the meeting* a letter was handed in from the Secretary of the Flaxmillers’ Association, asking to he notified by 'phone “whether or not your men wish to meet (he millers on Monday, so that I can advise them by ’phone y to-night or to-morrow. They are available if your men wisli to meet them.” A reply was given to this by ’plume, staling that we wished to meet them, with the delegates already appointed, and the Secretary of the Millers’ Association said he would communicate with the members and let ns know the result later. About two hours later he informed us that they were unwilling to meet ns for the same reason as before. The Union, at its meeting on June 7th, resolved to adhere to its previous resolution, as our members believe that important principles are involved. First/-we maintain the principle of our unfettered right to choose our own representatives without any direct or indirect dictation on the part of; the employers; second, the member objected to has already suffered two years’ imprisonment for his breach of (he Military Service Act, and is now disfranchised for ten years. We object to the notion that it is competent for any body of private persons to add to the punishment deemed to be sufficient by the authorities and provided by Statute. If a stand is not taken on this point, then discrimination regarding employment would naturally follow, thus converting the two years’ sentence into an indeterminate one at the discretion of any irresponsible employer. On 13lh June a letter was received from Air W. Newton, Conciliation Commissioner, suggesting a conference of delegates from both sides to be presided over by himself. This communication was considered by the Union on the following day, when a resolution was carried as follows:—“That our delegates meet the Conciliation Commissioner, as suggested by him.” A telegram was forwarded to Mr Newton accordingly. The conference look place on June 17tb, the flaxmillers being represented by Messrs IT. Berry, R, T. Bell and A. Ross, and the Union by Messrs A. C. Hillier, C. Scott, and A. J. Jeffreys. The millers persisted in their previous attitude, with the exception that their repre-j sentatives promised to call a meeting of their Association and to leave the matter to their decision." Regarding this, the Union would point: out in passing that it appears somewhat inconsistent for the Flaxmillers’ Association to refuse to meet a Union delegate on the ground that he is a military defaulter while one of its own delegates is a man who secured the release and stood bond for an interned German worker in preference to employing one of his own countrymen who were nvuilable. On June 3.Bth a letter was received from the Millers’ Association offering the following scale of wages:—Cutting, 20 per cent, off present rates; paddocking, with carting, summer 325, winter 355; paddocking, without carting, summer 235, winter 20s; scutching (automatic) award rates, (hand) 30s; day work, mill handsels 7fd, feeders Is 9d, A reply was sent asking the Association), on behalf of th§ -
Union representatives, that if they were to advise their members to accept the piecework rates as offered would the Association be prepared to increase the rate for day work from Is 7Lltols Od per hour? It was pointed out that the reduction in the piecework rates meant a considerable decrease in the wages cost of production, whije the small increase suggested would increase the cost of production so slightly that it would be more than compensated for by an early settlement and a conequcnt resumption of the industry. A reply was received to this on the 20th from the Executive of the Millers’ Association rejecting the suggestion, on the ground that the scale of wages submitted had been drawn up with a view of providing an equitable remuneration for the different work done, and the acceptance of the suggestion would entail a revision of the whole scale. A meeting' Of the Union on June 2.15( decided to reject the scale offered and to adhere to the demand for Is 9d per hour for mill hands. The Union points out that the granting of this rate only involves an increase in the cost of production of 3s per ton of dressed fibre. In the meantime the Union is still open for further negotiations, but advises its members not to engage except at those mills where the 14s per day (Is 9d per hour) rate is being paid. ■ —l am, etc., PERCY T. ROBINSON, Secretary.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19190626.2.11
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1995, 26 June 1919, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,140THE FLAXMILLS DISPUTE. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1995, 26 June 1919, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Manawatu Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.