CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 March 1919, Page 6

CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

GROCERS' DISPUTE SETTLED. The sitting of the Conciliation Council at New Plymouth, in the matter of the grocers' assistants' dispute, was coneluded yesterday, a settlement being arrived at. The new agreement provides for a 52-hour week, as per the Shops and Offices Act. The rates of pay were fixed as follows:—Assistants, 15 to 10 years, 12s (id per week; 10-17, 17s (id; 17-18, 255; IHU'J, 355; IH-20, £2 iis; 20-21, £2 12s lid; 21-22, £2 17s lid; 22 and over, £3 7s lid. These wages apply to drivers also. An assistant may act as a driver or a driver its a:i assistant. The proportion of juniors allowed is one to three senior assistants or fraction thereof.

The following holidays are stipulated: New Year's Day and following day, Good Friday, r--ter Saturday, Easter Monday, Labor i'.iy, birthday of reigning sovereign, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. If any day be generally observed as a holiday in lieu of the abovementioned holidays, such day, for the purposes of the award, shall be substituted for the specified holiday. The weekly half-holiday will be from Vi. o'clock noon, instead of 1 p.m. as hitherto.

The court's usual clause re preference i i union members is inserted, and notification of employment is required to be given by the employer to the union secretary. The award does not apply to clerks, but is npjM'cnble to both male and female assistant^. The award cow.: '"t° force as from March 1, 191», and lb ror a term of two years. At the conclusion of the sitting the Commissioner congratulated the assessors upon the satisfactory termination of their deliberations. His experience was that the employers of New Plymouth were very anxious indeed to meet their workmen in a fair spirit. Employer and employee were on the best of terms, and he was satisfied that the new award was a workable one and one that would give satisfaction to all concerned. He congratulated the assessors on the way in which the whole proceedings had been carried on; there had been no bitterness and no personalities of «ny description. Whatever had happened would only tend to cement and intensify the good feeling already existing. There was a good deal of talk about labor unrest, and pessimists were going about proclaiming that we were on the eve of industrial war. He had no time for these statements at all. There was nothing of the kind in the mind of the workers. All they wanted was a fair deal and for the employers to recognise that they were entitled to a fair share of the wealth they produced, and so long as the employers met them in a fair spirit there would be no industrial war.

Mr. Garter, on behalf of the assessors for the employers, and Mr. McKeen and Mr. Mortenson for the union, spoke in complimentary terms of the capable and impartial manner in which Mr. Harle Giles had conducted the proceedings, and Mr. Lyons also added his tribute to the tactful manner in which the chairman ai-wsn-s carried out his duties.

vote of thanks to he Commissioner w; , carried with acclamation.

AMENDMENTS TO SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT. A well-at tended meeting of New Plymouth grocers' assistants was held on Monday evening, and resolutions were, carried in favor of the following amendments to the Shops and Offices Act-. 1. That the hours per week shall not be longer than 47. 2. That no shop assistant shall be employed after 5.30 on any night in any week. 3. That all shops shall close at 12 noon on Saturdays. 4. That the late night shall be entirely abolished. 5. That all extended hours shall he done away with at Christmas and New Year, thereby avoiding an injustice which shop assistants have had to put up with for many years past. 6. That it shall be compulsory for every shop assistant to have his or her half-holiday, notwithstanding that another holiday shall have occurred in the same week. 7. That Easter Saturday shall be made one of the statutory closi'ng davs in the Act. ' 8. That the-provision that an employee is receiving in excess of £3 17s fid per week is not entitled to overtime shall be abolished. 9. That all overtime shall be paid for in adidtion to tea money. 10. That suitable diuing accommodation shall be provided in all shops for both male and female employees. U. That the Act shall provide for satisfactory heating and seating accommodation, and that thermometers shall he installed in each department in each shop in order that assistants may be able to see that the requirements o'f the Act with regard to heating are carried out. 12. That rest rooms for the convenience of female employees shall be provided, and that female inspectors shall be appointed, such inspectors to be selected from the ranks of female shop assistants.