FLAXMILLS TO RE-OPEN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3840, 4 September 1928, Page 2

FLAXMILLS TO RE-OPEN.

PROBABLY AT END OF WEEK. The Flaxmillers’ Association and Flaxmills Employees’ Union have decided to sign the agreement submitted at a conference of both parties by the Prime Minister. The agreement is as follows: — “That we, representing the flaxmill owners and the flaxmill workers, agree to a settlement of the, present dispute obtaining in the industry on the following basis: — 1. —A wage reduction of 10 per cent, on present award wages based on the average value of flax at £24 10/-. 2. —The wage to be increased to the award rates when flax reaches the average price of £27 10/-. “It is agreed that an investigation shall be made into the trading accounts and last year’s balancesheets by the Department of Industries and Commerce, and trat the position regarding a sliding scale of wages shall be reviewed after the investigation has been completed.”

It will be noted that clauses 1 and 2 weije previously submitted by the millers to the employees’ union as a fair compromise to meet the situation. The union’s demand for an investigation of the millers trading accounts with the object of ascertaining whether or not there is a .margin of profit to justify a reduction and to further review the position when such information has been obtained, has been conceded by the millers. There is a feeling of relief throughout the district at the early " possibility of the mills re-opening, which will absorb unemployment and provide steady employment to several hundreds of men, many with dependants. It is possible that the local mills will re-start towards the end of the week.