ARBITRATION COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 132, 22 October 1912, Page 8

ARBITRATION COURT.

HOTEL EMPLOYEES' UNION. By Telegraph—Press Association. Rotorua, Last Night. The Arbitration Court to-day heard a demand by the local branch of the Auckland Hotel and Boarding-house Employees' Union, the principal effect of which was for shorter hours and increased pay. Judge Sim commented on the f ict that the demands were doub'le-barreiied. He said it was ridiculous for the union to make proposals entirely altering the award in less than two years of the Court fixing the expiring award. When would the unions exercise common sense in approaching the Court, and formulate reasonable demands? The evidence for the union was chiefly on the question of allowing a half-holiday, the Judge stating that it seemed to be proving breaches lof the. awards for which the proprietors 1 should have been prosecuted in the S.M. I Court. For the employers, it was .shown that, allowing for additional labor necessitated by shorter hours, a half holiday and an alternative Sunday off, granting the demands would involve an extra expenditure of £4082 15s, of 75 per cent, on the present wages bill of £6200. Mr. Long, for the union, admitted that the demands were made higher than they expected, as before the Conciliation Commissioner it was often necessary to compromise. Mr. Scott: That is' reducing the whole thing to a farce.