BOOT OPERATIVES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10616, 15 June 1920, Page 3

BOOT OPERATIVES

CLAIM FOE AMENDED AWART>. THE QUESTION OF SKILL. PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION. CHIiISTCHUKCH, June U. Tho Arbitration Court to-day heard an application for tho amendment of the Dominion male and female boot operatives awards of October, 1918. In the case of tho male operatives the court was asked to grant the basic wage fixed for skilled workers (2s per hour), together with a bonus of 3d hour. l r or female operatives of four years' experience and upwards, the court was asked tq fix a wage of £■! 10a week, with .£2 179 6d a week for hot wax thread machinists. In addition workers asked r or tho bonuses of Id and ljd hour granted this year by tho court. ' Tho grounds of the application were 'a) High standard of skill required; <b) the increased co6t of living; (c) the inhealthv conditions of the work; (d) Hie court's recent pronouncement at Gisborno of its willingness to amend the basio wage of industries under current awards. Mr C. A. Watts, who appeared in support of tho application, said that owing to tho date of the ratification of tho two awards it had not been possible to apply earlier for a basio wage for skilled workers. Mr Watts cited the increases granted to' various skilled .workers betwppii W> and 1919. Those ranged from sld to 75d per hour, the bootmakers' increase in that period being 4d. In January, 1920, the boot trade wage wag raised tol Is 8d per hour on account, of ..the increased cost of living, while the wages of other trades were raised by Id per hour. He quoted the memorandum of Mr Justice Heydon, of the Common- , wealth Arbitration Court :-"Wo are of opinion that journeymen in the Kut ti-ade are skilled workers, and should leceivo the wage of skilled workers to which they are fairlv entitled." Mr W.' I'. Mapplebcck, for the employers, said it was not reasonable to place bootmakers on the same plane of skill as plumbers and engineers. Ther-i should bo a reclassification in Jhe industry, and the 'employers were prepared to agree tn this. The employers as-ketl that the claim for the basic wage l.e deferred till November next, when the term of existing award expired. Prices in the boot and shoe trade were falling, and rotailei-R were abstaining from buying. This was going to affect employment, and ho was afraid they were goinr? to face a period of depression. The court reserved its decision.