BUTCHERS' DISPUTE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 6 December 1913, Page 7

BUTCHERS' DISPUTE.

AGREEMENT ARRIVED AT.

A meeting of the Council of Conciliation was held at the Supremo Court, Mastei-ton, on 'Thursday to consider the butchers' dispute.

The following persons acted as assessors for. the respective .parties: — Messrs D. Qgtfvy (Masterton), G. Early (Pahiatua), and J. Ingley (Greytown) for the employers; and Mes'sra A. Cooper (Wellington), A.. Rippon (Masterton), and J. Mcintosh (Masterton) for the workers' union. ( A number of other master tradesmen from different parts of the Wairarapa district were present during the greater' part of the proceedings. The following is an outline of the recommendation arrived at by the Council, which in due time will be forwarded to the Court of Arbitration : Wages for men employed within a radius of five miles of the chief post office, Masterton, are as follows: First shopman £3 155,, second shop"raan £3 ss, first small goodsman £3 los, all others £2. 16s, riders out over 21 years £1 17s 6d. Wages outside the five mile limit to be five shillings less than the above rates, provided that the workers are supplied with meat to the equivalent value. HOURS OF WORK. In Masterton, on four days of the week, from 6.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; on Thursdays, 6.30 to 12 noon; on Safe- * urdays 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with the usual time for meals. Outside the five mile radius, the hours of work are those provided under the Shops, and Offices Act, 1908, and which allows the employer to regulate the hours according to the nature arid requirements of his bnsi- • ness. .

Other conditions, such ,as casual rates, the employment ofrhoys and youths, holidays, under-rate workers, are pi-actieally on the existing lines of the existing reward. The preference to workers was modified to snit the ivishes of the country employers, and is now the same as that in vogue throughout the Manawatu and Hawke's Bay districts.

The term of the new agreement is for a period of three years, and it wilt conje,.inter force on a. date to he fixed "by the court. In connection with the foregoing arrangtimiSnt of the difficulty, we are advised. by the Commissioner, who presided at the meeting, that the business transacted .is only in the. nature of a recommendation, and haa no binding effects on either of tho parties. Should either side have an objection to the recommendation of the Council, they are allowed to state its nature to the court when it sits again in Mastcrton, and if the objection is of a .substantial character it will no doiubt be rectified by the court. .Each of the .parties to this dispute will again be notified to attend the sitting of the Arbitration Court, so that they will have ample opportunity of stating whether or not they approve of the recommendation made by the Council.

Applications have been received by the Commissioner from a number of parties to have their.names struck out 1 of the list. Other applications have been made to have names added to the littt of parties. At a later date of which all concerned will have due notice, the Commissioner will again sit to hear these applications.