ARBITRATION COURT

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 30, 28 April 1927, Page 9

ARBITRATION COURT

SHIPWRIGHTS’ DISPUTE TO-DAY’S SITTING “The only clauses in dispute are those of wages and the country workers.” said His Honour Mr. Justice Frazer. when the Auckland ship, yacht and boat builders’ dispute came up for hearing to-day. The union claimed wages at the rate of 2s 7d an hour and asked thar workers should be paid for travelling at night. Mr. T. Cain, secretary of the union, said that the last award had beer* made in 1920. His Honour: You are evidently a very contented lot up here. The court reserved its decision. PLUMBERS’ APPRENTICES An application to have the proportion of apprentices *.o journeymen in the plumbers’ and gasfitters' trade reduced from 1 to 2 to 1 to 3 was made by the Auckland union at the Arbitration Court to-day. Air. J. Clark, advocate for the union, said that there were too many apprentices in the trade, which could not absorb the journeymen available. His Honour: We have unemployed in lots of trades. This is a slump year. Mr. Clark said that the returns for 1926 showed that 566 firms had employed 1.427 journeymen and 751 apprentices. The trade could not be expected to absorb so many boys. Air. W. Scott: Have you compared these returns with those of other years and found out how many were absorbed?—No. His Honour pointed out that the unemployed men this year would not ap.peur in the returns and consequently there would be fewer apprentices next year. Air. Clark said that the recommendation for the decrease in proportion was from the majority of the Apprentice Committee. Air. S. E. Wright: I wish to enter an emphatic protest against the action of the chairman of the committee in signing a recommendation as coming from the committee as a whole, which we can only regard as being intended to mislead this court. When the matter was before the committee. the employers’ members voted against it, and requested that their dissent should be noted on the recommendation. That this has not been done shows a decided lack of courtesy to say the least of it. The court reserved its decision.