Dairying Industry in Taranaki.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 16, 23 June 1911, Page 4

Dairying Industry in Taranaki.

By J. ROBERTSON,

The dairying industry of New Zealand is the most prosperous and at the same time probably the most thoroughly sweated of all our indusdustries. Tho combination is not an unusual one, and tho more highly developed the industry the smaller is tho relative share of tho worker in the product. Taranaki is tho centre of the dairying industry of N.Z- In Taranaki it has reached a higher point of development than anywhere else perhaps in tho world. In Taranaki we find the labor conditions worse than anywhere else in New Zealand. From the children who assist in the milk extraction to tho factory employees wno convert the raw material into butter and cheese it is the same. Tho dairying industry is tho sweated industry of New Zealand. My present intention is to direct tho attention of Worker readers to the position which has now been reached in connection with tho butter and cheese factory employees in Taranaki. Ij'irst, then, whac amount of regulation of hours and wages obtains in tho dairy factories? The award now in force stipulates as follows:—"Clause la: The Hours of work m butter and cheese factories shall not exceed 70 hours per week of seven days, exclusive of meal hours." Clause 3 stipulates for wages varying from 37s (id per week to £2 15s— this last in exceptional cases. In addition to the wages, 'sleeping accommodation' has to be provided; in Taranaki this has been interpreted to mean Svhares" but no stretchers or bunks, tho men usually providing those tliemselves. This award, with its long hours and low wages, is based entirely on an award made by tne ArDitraLion Court in tho case ot the AYeihngton Union in March, 1909. It differs only in its classification of cheese factories into main and branch factories, a classification which is absurd, as tho oniy distinction between tne two classes is. a distinction without any dnlerencc, a mam lactory being t-ho one wnere tho employer's office is situated, thougn, of course, this proximity of the employer cannot niaiio any diherewco m tne nature of tne work to be done. in perieei" fairness, it ougnt to be said that very tew of the Taranaki employers pay the minimum rate of 3<s od per weeis, 4Us is common, tho employee thus receiving per hour, instead ot t>_d, almost 7d. Some Misconceptions. The people wno only know about the dairying industry through the farming columns ot the dany press sometimes labor under miapprehensions in regard to the labor conditions. Let mc say now that the wage mentioned is NOT in addition to being "found" by the employer, and, furmer, in regard to the long hours —in Taranaki two-thirds of the employees at least are cheese factory assistants, and it is held by all experts that good cheese cannot be made under 10 hours per day. (Mr. Singleton, the Dairy Commissioner, elated on oath in I'almerston North, that tho product would suffer if the working hours were limited to 10 per day). So the hours per day and per wtvs are always long wnatevei* the season. It is true there is no so much work to do in tho factories in tho winter months, .but it is the custom as the season wanes and the milk supply declines to put off the assistants m proportion to the decline for the rest of the season, and so leave them to find other employment (in the winter) as best they can, until the factories beg-n to re-open in the spring. This aspect of the factory workers' lot is the most aggravating of all, as tho remuneration is manifestly too low to allow of his providing in many_ cases even a bare subsistence for himself during the period for which he is not required in the factory. In practice the hours worked range from 70 to 84 per week. In butter factories the conditions are on the whole somewhat better; they vary a great deal, however, in the various factories, and in many cases aro very bad, while in almost no case is the remuneration equal to what is paid in other industries requiring tho same standard of intelligence and technical knowledge. Efforts at Improvement in Conditions. Some years ago the factory employees in Taranaki began to organise to secure better conditions. The difficulties in organising a comparatively small body of workers, scattered in small groups over a wide area, aro still very great, and were no less then. The employers reported to the old tac-

Working Conditions and Arbitration.

cc. Dairy Employees

tics of victimising (by dismissal and black-listing) the promoters and "agitators" but thoso men were of the right stuff, and succeeded in securing an industrial agreement, which came into force on Ist August, 1907. This agreement, tho first made in the dairying industry, in many important respects was vastly superior to the one given by the Arbitration Court nearly two years later in tho case 7 of tho Wellington Union. Tho work done by. men like J. Mackio and W. J. Birch thus bore good fruit, but the workers failed to learn that "the prico of freedom is eternal vigilance," and two years later they lost what had been gained. The Lesson of Federation The Taranaki employers, whose organisation has been brought into being by the demands of the Workers' Union, affiliated itself with the N.Z. Employers' Federation, and in 1909 it was tho Employers' Federation wnich handled the dispute against the workers, who tound themselves up against a very different proposition tnan on the previous occasion, and through the soporific influence of the legal protection given by the I.C. and A. Act, Avere in a worse condition to meet it than before. The Union was beaten and gave up (it might be said almost without a struggle) the principle of a six-day week, accepted lowot wages, and allowed the workers to sinK back into the slough out of which they had been raised. To apportion the blame at this time would do no good, but it must be remembered as significant in connection with the present Union's attitude towards the Arbitration Court, that tho conditions then accepted were thoso already laid down by the Arbitration Court in the same industry m tho adjoining province. The Worker's Union was too weak to resist, and its representatives were out-manoeuvred by the representatives of tho employers*; in those facts lio the causes of defeat. One immediate result of tho acceptance on behalf of the men of the Wellington award for tho Taranivi Province was the collapse of tho Union a few months thereafter. What •■Arbitration" has done for ths Dairy Factory Workers. The present Union was formed at Eitham on November 20th, 1910, and in three and a-haif months 80 per cent, of the workers were enrolled. The Union is not registered under the Arbitration Act, and every member knows \V___', and is determined not to allow the Union to be forced before the Arbitration. Court. Those wno uphold the Arbitration Court, from the workers' point of view, will find little to justify then* attitude in the Court's dealings with this industry. Those who know the dairying industry have only to read ivir. "justice i_um's memorandum to tu6 hist award made by the Court (tne Wellington Award, Book of Awards, Vol -X., p. to realise that the whole award is a hideous blunder, based on a complete misconception of tne whole case. In saying this, there is no intention to cast any aspersion on tne President of tne Court —tiiat the Court was misled by tne employers evidence is pa-ent in every line. It is assumed, tor instance, that tne industry was a languishing one, and taia-v. therefore "no alteration should be in ado iv the existing conditions." The season which had just ended showed a decided increase in output over the previous season, while the one which ioJ lowed showed a 40 per cent, increase over that one; it must be admitted that this was pretty good for a languishing industry. At the same time, however, as tho output increased in this way, wages dropped as a result of the award 9 per cent, or £10 6s 8d per head per annum. The Wellington Union, on tho expiry of their award, went to the Court and sought to show that the award had not carried out the expressed intention of tho Court;, as it had made an alteration "in the existing conditions" by causing a reduction in wages. It was to little purpose, however, and now the dairy factory employees have had their fill of the arbitration system. Table of Earnings. The following table, showing the annual earnings of the factory employees per head for the three years named, is compiled from the reports of the Labor Department:— 1938. 1909. 1910. £ £ c. £ -a. Northern District 90 101 14 110 14 (No award) Taranaki District 96 109 108 11 (Award in force Bth Oct., 1909. to end of Ma-rch. 1910.> Wellington Province ... 98 113 13 8 103 7 (Award in force Ist June, 1909, to end of March. 1910.)

It will thus be seen that Wellington Province, the district where the Court's award was in force a full season, 1909----10, suffered a big reduction in wages* Taranaki, where the same award had operated part of a season, showed a small reduction. The Northern District, which had no award of the Court in operation, shows a substantial increase. We find on a further reference to the whole question of wages in the dairy factories, that there has been a steady upward movement in wages for the last 10 years, which is only checked by the operation of Arbitration Court' awards. ; Demands of Employees. The improvement asked in the meantime by the YV oncers' Union in Taranaiii, when viewed alongside the conditions obtaining m other industries, seem almost ludicrous in their modesty. Tney are—firstly, a six-day week in the factories. mis was granted in the agreement which was in force from lt«J7 to 1909, when it was lost as already indicated; secondly, an increase in wages amounting to about 10 per cent. The Union approached the employers m Feoruary and asited for a conference to discuss and, if possible, adjust the matter in dispute. They were met, however, with a refusal on the part of the Employers' Executive to confer until the union would consent to register under the Arbitration Act. Their action has since been confirmed, and it is evident that tho employers thoroughly recognise what a splendid weapon tho Arbitration Court has been for them in the past and mean, if possible, to use it again.

The men as a whole, be it said, are keenly alive to the position, and may be relied on to stand to their guns and not recede from the position taken up. Recognition for their organisation is the first essential to be fought for, and in the meantime they ask for the moral support of their fellow workers throughout the Dominion in the unequal struggle they are engaged in.