SHEARERS' AWARD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 314, 30 August 1932, Page 3

SHEARERS' AWARD

DEADLOCK ENSUES BETWEEN CON CILIATlON COURT AND UNION. PLIGHT OF SHEEP OWNERS. ■zr- - i ■ Yfellington, Wednesday The proceedings of the Goilciliation Court in respect of a new award for the Shearers' Union were carried a stage further to-day. At the outset Mr. Newton expressed the hope that further progress would be niade than had been made at 'Gisborne. The outstanding diffieuity, he gathered, was wages. During the preliminary discussion the suggestion was made that proceedings should take place in committee, Mr. Acland remarking that they might get further and get into closer contract in c'ommittee. "As far as wages are concerned," he said, "it must be rocognised that we are up against economic facts." Mr. Cook: We have nothing to hide. It was decided not to take the proceedings in committee. The clauses were gone through seriatim, agreement being reached on practically all points except those with respect to rate of pay. When these were discussed, the 'employers' proposals were stated to be 15s per hundred, whether hand or machine shorn. The employees' counter-proposals were for 21s a hundred. Mr. Nicholson: We will offer 16s 8d per hundred for one year, and see how things pan out. We can't do more. "That Coolie Rate."

Mr. Cook: We cannot accept that coplie rate. It amounts to a reduction of close on 50 per cent. compared with the wages of four y'ears ago. Mr. Cook said that the prospects of the eoming clip were bright. In the years of "glorious prosperity" th,e shearers did not get a share in that prosperity; now, in a time of temporary slump, the workers were expected to suffer. "No tribunal in the world would award what you are offering," he said. Mr. Nicholson: Only the tribunal of economic law. Mr. Acland. Many sheepfarm'ers are only on their farms because they have nowhere else to go. They can't even pay their bills. Dissent on the part of the 'employers was expressed when Mr. Cook said that sheepfarmers had dismissed 90 per cent. of their permanent hands and were taking on relief workers in their places. Mr. Beamish denied that this was so except in a few instances. Wages certainly had been reduced, but permanent hands had not been P'ut off wholesale. Mr. Roberts said that the employers had said they were up against economic facts, but they looked upon the economic facts from their point of view only. The shearers were not getting their cost of living reduced in proportion to the reduction in wages. "The fact remains," said Mr. Nicholson, "that we have not got the money this year on last year's prices for wool to offer more." "Xnsult to Shearers." Mr, Cook: We have arranged- to shear over a million sheep in the North Island at 21s a hundred. My own opinion is that you do not really represent the sheepfarmers of New Zealand, and I do not believe that you really want an agreement this year. But I can tell you. that it will cost you more than 21s to shear a hundred of your sheep if you create trouble by sticking to your offer, which is an insult to the shearers.

Mr. Nicholson said the sheepowners wanted an agreement, but it all boiled down to' what they were able to pay, It was absurd to call it a starvation wage when 16s 8d a day with keep could be earned. Mr. Acland: The man on the high country in the South Island is in a bad way, and he will be in a worse way if the present cost of production continues. It will be a case of walking off millions of acres. He is now in the position of caretaker: he majr he able to exist, but not to live. Mr. Roberts said he recognised that the sheepfarmers' position was bad and that the world's markets had treated them badly, but that did not justify further reduction in the wages of the workers. The employers had sponsored the 10 per cent. reduction in wages on the ground that it would assist in economic recovery, but it had only made things worse, and now they wanted to reduce wages still further. Mr. Acland: We have to pay out of wool and lamb, and you are all wanting three times as much wool for wages as you used to get. We simply have not got it to offer.

Offer s and Counter-Offers. After a desultory discussion on ecoomics in general, Mr. Cook said that a decent offer would he considered. Mr. Acland: We have raised our offer from 15s to 16s 8d, but if you will not consider any rate below 21s we sball not get much further. We understood from the report of the proceedings at Gisborne that you were reducing your claim to 19s. Mr. Cook said that he never, made an offer of less than £1. That £1 was a definite offer and he did not think that without definite instruction from members they could go a farthing below that rate. When Mr. Newton suggested a sliding scale, it was said that the starting point would present the same difficulty as that which had arisen regarding rates. "The finishing point, as far as I can see, is going to be bankruptcy," remarked Mr. Nicholson. Mr. Nicholson having reiterated that his side wanted to come to an agreement, an adjournment until later this afternoon was agreed to. In the meantime, said Mr. Nicholson, he would telegraph for instructions regarding raising the employers' offer, hut if the other side definitely decided that it could not accept less than 19s he did not see much prospect of an agreement being reached. Upon resumption in the afternoon it . was decided to take the rest of the proceedings in committee.