CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1918, Page 2

CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

TIMBER YARDS AND SAW- MILtS DISPUTE. The Conciliation Council sat at New Plymouth yesterday to hear the dispute of the saw mills and timber yards workers. Mr. T. Harle Giles presided, and the assessors for the employers were Messrs. E. H. Tribe, W. G. Reid, and 0. W. Syme, and for -the workers, Messrs, J. 11. Storsing, F. J. Lyons and E. Phelan (Auckland) . The union applied for a new award to ! supersede the current award, while the employers tiled the present award as a counter-proposal. At the opening the commissioner expressed a hope that the matters would he considered in a friendly spirit, and that as a result a satisfactory settlement ivould be reached. The claims of the union were much in excess of the present conditions, and the onus was on them to prove that their claims for increased wages were fair and reasonable. He

thought it could be taken for granted I that the union was not asking for less i than they expected to get —unions gen- ! crally asked for more than was really expected, and employers usually offered less than they expected to give. Mr. Phelan said that so far as the present case was concerned, the union was not asking for more than it expected, i The commissioner said regarding the ■ increase in wages asked for to meet the increased cost of living, and to provide a living wage, he had given a definition of what he considered a living wage some time ngo, and he was still of the same opinion; it was such a wage as would enable a worker with an average family of four to live in reasonable comfort, to enjoy some, at least, of the luxuries and recreations of life, and be able to put aside something for the future. He hoped that in considering the matters before them both sides would be moderate and endeavor to arrive at asatisfactory solution of the trouble. Mr. Phelan, for the union, said the demands were considered reasonable. Had lie helped to frame them he would have asked for more, considering the conditions of the district. If the employers

were able to point out any items which they considered unreasonable he was sure the union would be prepared to give them every consideration. They recognised that the employers had to run their businesses on successful lines, and that whatever increases were granted would have to be passed on to the consumers. Mr, Lyons said the union had given their demands every consideration before coining to the employers, and they had cut their demands down as far as they possibly could. It was stated that the employers had voluntarily given an increase in wages over the award rate, the date of which had expired some months ago. Mr. Tribe, for the employers, stated that local timber merchants were not getting any higher percentage of profits than before the war, though that might not apply to the sawmills. The local merchants nearly all purchased their supplies of timber and their profits were no higher than they had been for years past. The council then proceeded to discuss the claim and counter-claim.