THE NEW BONUS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 63, 8 December 1920, Page 8

THE NEW BONUS

BASIS OF COMPUTATION UNION REPRESENTATIVES SAY MISTAKE WAS MADE k ] The following- communication Has been «» sent to the Registrar of the Arbitration it; Court by Messrs JI. J. Reardon and J. Aji M'Combs, who arc representing unions (ii Wore the Court in connection with np- lin plications for the cost-of-living bonus:— lin "We are sending yon a graph which La shows clearly why the Court should not bii accept calculations based on I'he six- lin monthly average ending March, 1919. In W. trying to arrive at a satisfactory basis 48j for bonuses under clause 18 of the 1918 M; legislation, the. Court was very anxious l>6 to avoid abnormal or accidental peaks W or rises, but uiiforuuuiitcly in selecting 72; a six-monthly moving average index num. Ml bo.r it chose the 6ix months ending 84' March, 1919, which contains the highest hi' Pink of all the periods that might have gi< been selected. The peak rises from 1509 be in September to 1603 in December, or ; nearly lOfl poi.mli in three months, and Oi then drops again in March to 1505. Tho Be following tables will also show that the. w( six months ending March was a period \V of extraordinary disturbance. In a it; period of rising prices the index number Hi for the last month is almost invariably lii higher than ilhe average for tho pre- it vious six months, and this is so in the El following tables, with the one exception B 1 of March, 1919, which shows a minus of Sc 31 points, with high plus figures on 12 cither side of it. This extraordinary hi result is due to Ac high peak occurring rii in the middle of this six-monthly period, hi Tho reason for this extraordinary peak \V was the very high prices ruling for potn- | be toes, onions, and other eommodieß at -72 the time of tilio influenza epidemic, ' which occurred at Christmns, 1918, when . D! there was great dislocation in New Zea- , G land, and shipping from Australia was j SI prohibited, December constituting the J) price peak. pi INDEX NUMBERS-GBOUPS I—III. U> Six- lx Month monthly l J i Numbor. Average. 36 March, 1916 12+7 1237 +10 hi .September, 1916 ... 12-S4 1275 + 9 m March. 1917 1310 1331 +15 b September, 1917 ... 137G 13G4 +12 D March, 1918 1435 UIG +19, 81 September, 1918 ... 1509 1490 +191 March, 1919 1505 1539 -3-1 n September, 1919 ... 15SC . 1543 +43 li March, 1920 1730 1671 +59 li September, 1920 ... 1849 1783 +6fi P "Note tho extraordinary disturbance j ] , in the figures at March, 1919. Where a « plus figure soniewhore between plus 19 '' and plus 42 might reasonably be expect- *; od, a minus figure appears. If plus 30 f : might be expected and minus 34 appears " tho amount of disturbance or abnormal- „ ity is 64 points. .f _/'lf the Court insists on the calcula- \ tions being based on au obviously un- r suitable period, then tho calculation, as li stated by Mr. Malcolm Eraser, must he i accepted as correct. The claim that Mr. l, Cooper had predicted that the bonus D would not be less than ils. i no*' "••'?'■- „ our significance, more especially as it is V also claimed that lie had awmalc.v pre- j. dieted tho two previous bonuses. The j j facts are that on any reasonable method j of computation tho Court has douo the I \ right thing in granting not less than 9s. j j "As an additional reason why the | \ Court should not accede to the request ' g to reduce tho bonus, we would urge that \ \ under existing arrangements wages fol- j g low prices, tho workers having first of . ] nil to pay the ever-incpffviin; nr--- f— t six months or more before rolief is granted, and then it is g.anlc. ■ ~ ; ( basis of the average increase for the pie- r vious six months. The increases in i 1 wages are therefore six months and more j j behind the increased expenditure. As an I example, during the current six months 'J tho workers will have to pay increased 1 prices for butter and other commodities, ' but as these increases were not recorded in the. index numbers for the six months 1 ending Septombor there is no allowance £ to meet this increased expenditure dur- ! ing the currency of this six months. 1 Taking all these factors into consider: 1 .- 1 tion, wo are convinced that the workers 1 are not now receiving their dues and 1 that a very grave injustico will be done if tho Court reduces the 9s. bonus agreed upon nt Christchurch. "Speaking generally, the- results to be obtained from a six-monthly average | measurement, would bo steadier and an- , proximate the results to bo obtained j from the monthly number because the distance between the two ]>oints to be measured would bo about the same. Ordinarily, the six-monthly average would be .behind tho last month number at ■ both ends of the computation, but in . this case, because of the extraordinary peak, the six-monthly average is 42 points ahead of tho month number at March, i:)l9,' and 64 points below ;it September, Hi.- effect being to reduce the fi.;...- 0 ■■■• which the increase is computed by 108 : points. The monthly figure .-hows an !••• : crease from March to September «. f *■'' points, while the six-monthly average figures, which should approximate tho other figures, show an increase of only 4 points. In the other figures shown, tho increases in tho monthly figure approximate tho increases in the sixmonthly nvorages for the same dates. As we are that a mistake has been mndo in choosing tin abnormal period as the base of the present and nil future calculations we would ask that tho Court hear us on this very important question, affecting as it does, not only tho present bonus, but all. future bonuses. At tho request of the employers, the Court has already given evidence of its willingness to reconsider its decision made at Christchurch, and wo confidently make tho request to bo heard on an aspect that may have escaped the attention of the Court." fThe point raised in the foregoing letter was brought to the Court's notice 011 Monday.] __,