FORESTRY WORKERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1003, 20 June 1930, Page 13

FORESTRY WORKERS

AWARD REFUSED BY COURT MEN APPEAL TO MINISTER Press Association WELLINGTON, Today. .A deputation from the forestry workers in the South Auckland district waited upon the Minister of Labour• the lion. S. G. Smith, yesterdav to ask that the men should have their wages and working conditions protected by law. The Arbitration Court decided at the end of last veac that the men were not entitled to an award. Mr. A. Cook, general secretary of the Workers’ Union, who accompanied the deputation, asked the Minister to review the court’s decision. He said the 2,000 or 3.000 men concerned, well as their employers, fully believed that an award would be granted* A union was formed among the men last, year and they lator affiliated with th. New Zealand Workers’ Union. A dispute was taken before the Conciliation Council, but no agreement was reached. In October the question was considered by the Arbitration Court at Rotorua. It was then stated that at least six out of 11 companies concerned were paying wages less than the court’s minimum rate.. It was also stated that the conditions were most primitive, but in spite of these facts the court decided by a majority that the mon should not have the benefits of an award.

The Minister, the Hon. 2?. G. Smith, promised to look thoroughly into the question.