ARBITRATION COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1922, Page 5

ARBITRATION COURT.

THE TYPOGRAPHICAL DISPUTE. WAGES AND HOURS OF WORK. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The hearing of the typographical dispute commenced in the Arbitration Court today. The object of the proceedings is to secure, if possible, a Dominion award. Mr. F. Pirani, on behalf of the Wellington newspaper proprietors, expressed regret that the Typographical Union had not agreed to hold a conference except under the condition that the employers must first concede the basic wage of £5 10s for compositors, as against the existing wage oi £4 10s 3d and a bonus of 9s. The employers’ representatives were prepared to meet the other side in a reasonable manner. They were willing to give the existing wages with bonus increases as they occurred, and allow the whole matter to stand on that basis for the present. The trade could not stand any further increases in pay or reduction of hours. Regarding linotype operators, the employers desired to have an hourly rate of pay fixed, so that those who wished to do so might give that system a trial. Mr. Pirani said he would not call evidence.

Mr. C. H. Chapman, for the typographical section of the employees, said experience had shown that a weekly rate was advantageous to employers and workers alike. The union had asked in vain for reasons for the proposed change, and in the absence of reasons the workers were strongly against hourly rates. Mr. Chapman said the employers’ proposal for a rate of 2s an hour in cities and Is lid in other towns, compared with the present wages of £5 8s a week and upwards, was ridiculous, taking into account the wages paid to case hands, the scarcity of skilled operators, and the prosperous state of the printing trade. Ten per cent, extra for night work was proposed, as at present, but the union claimed that night-workers should get 20s extra. Piecework in New Zealand was the lowest paid in the world. Mr. Chapman said New Zealand operators on piecework sometimes made £7 to £8 weekly, while in Australia, for similar work, the wages would be £lO to £l2. Hours were fixed in 1900 at 42 per week, and there had been no improvement since. Now the employers proposed to increase them to 45, but the union hoped the court would be more inclined to reduce hours. The evidence for the employees commenced shortly before the court rose for the 1 day. One witness, an employee at the Government printery, said he considered the general conditions of the trade detrimental to health, and added that the bright metal used with monotypes was very harmful to the eyesight. Another member of the Government printery staff expressed the opinion that monotypists should be paid more than linotypists. A third witness gave evidence to the effect that there should not be differentiation in pay according to the size of a town. The case proceeds to-morrow.