Textile Workers Seek Agreement

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 24, 29 January 1937, Page 2

Textile Workers Seek Agreement

CONCILIATION PROCEEDINGS ADJOURNED. Although their application for a postponement of tho proceedings was successful, the employers were plainly told by the Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. M. J. Reardon) that they could not be permitted to hold up for an unreasonable period the application of the Foxton woolpack and textile workers for an industrial agreement, when conciliation proceedings were set down for hearing in Palmerston North yesterday. Assessors present on behalf of the workers were Messrs. C. Broughton, T. Fuller and C. Colder, with Mr. P. T. Robinson as agent, while the employers were represented by Mr. S. I. McKenzie and Mr. W. E. Hale.

The Commissiouer reported that he had received tho following letter from Mr. McKenzie on behalf of the employers:—

‘ ‘ At present it is not possible to submit counter-proposals for an award for this industry because new machinery is now being installed and the plant is being remodelled. It is anticipated that this work will be comx>leted about tho end of June. Until it is completed, it is not practicable to frame proposals for an award to cover tho conditions which will exist in the new plant. "The employers therefore opposo the

making of an award until such time as the new plant is ready, and they ask that the Conciliation Council proceedings be deferred for the present. The date which you have suggested for Conciliation Council proceedings, February

28, is inconvenient to the employers, but if representatives of the union desire to discuss the question of an adjournment, representatives of the employers will be prepared to meet them at 2.30 p.m. that day with a view to arranging a suitable adjournment, so that an award may ultimately be obtained, suitable for the conditions of the plant. Mr. Robinson objected to an adjournment, saying it would be three mouths after the machinery was installed before the men could get an award. Some of the men were working for as low as £2 10s a week, and the company was trying to put off for as long as it could the introduction of an award, if the employers were not ready to proceed, it was their fault and not that of the men. Personally he did not think it possible ,to formulate counterclaims to the scale of wages the workers were asking for, and he was satisfied that the Court wouid increase some of the wages sought. Mr. McKenzie said the matter could be fixed up inside three months. Ho challenged a statement that tho men were receiving less than was provided in the Factories Act, and said he had been told they were receiving considerably more in some cases. Tlie Commissioner pointed out that tho union had complied with all the steps necessary for taking proceedings to secure an award, and he had fixed a date for conciliation proceedings and advised the employers ,to appoint assessors. From the first day t*£ his appointment he had been flooded with applications for sittings, and dates had had to be adjusted accordingly. Any attempt to avoid finality meant that a dispute would drag on for months. He was empowered to take action to have matters determined, and he had received a letter in which the employers declined to sit down and hear the workers' representations.

Mr. McKenzie: Not necessarily. It was not intended in that way. Mr. Reardon: It is not a question of your arranging to discuss an adjournment with the representatives of the union. It is a question of tho law of the land.

Mr. McKenzie said the employers agreed that it was a question for the Commissioner to decide. If he said so, the employers were prepared to ahead with the council. Mr. Reardon said he could not go on with a hearing where the employers bad not submitted counter-proposals or appointed assessors. He had the power —but did not want to use it—to force

the position. His present schedule of fixtures extended right to tho end of March, and the effect of a lengthy adjournment of the dispute was to allow the employers to postpone a reasonable application by a body of working men. , Mr. MacKenzie said that if it was impossible to reach an agreement the only course was to allow the matter t>o go to the Arbitration Court, if the men had any complaints, the employers were prepared to consider them. Any suggestion that previous complaints had been ignored was not correct. It appeared, said Mr. Reardon, that the employers had taken up an attitude that they were not prepared to obey the law’ of the country by nominating assessors and sitting down W'lth the men to discuss the position. Tho effect was that the men were thrown back on their own resources and placed in a comparatively helpless position. It should be fairly easy for the employers' representatives to meet those of the union and come to an industrial agreement for a short term until the new machinery was working, when steps could be taken to review the position. It was decided to adjourn the proceedings to a date to be arranged, and Messrs. F. W. Vickerman, D. R. Ogilvy, W. E. Halo and S. I. McKenzie were nominated as the employers* assessors.