AWARD SOUGHT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 40, 26 November 1937, Page 2

AWARD SOUGHT

THRESHING-MILL WORKERS. MATTERS REFERRED TO COURT. (Special to the “Guardian.”) CHRISTCHURCH, This. Day. Extraordinary interest was taken in the Conciliation ' Council proceedings yesterday in the threshing mill employees’ dispute with their employers. A gallery of farmers followed the discussions keenly, as they are likely to be affected considerably by the terms of any award made. The parties were unable to agree on the method of computing wages, and after drawing up the machinery clauses, they referred the dispute to the Arbitration Court for consideration upon evidence. One main point in dispute was the provision of food for the workers. Under the present system they provide their own, but the union assessors asked that the mill-owners pay the wage and found. Both parties insisted, the employers’ assessors, after a retirement, stating they could not accede to the request. The dispute was heard before Mr S. Ritchie, Conciliation Commissioner. The assessors for the workers w'ere Messrs R. Eddy (advocate), R. Eddy (Leeston), C. E. Baldwin, and A. J. Hamilton. For the employers the assessors were Messrs D. I. Macdonald (advocate), W. J. Bowman, A. C. Gadd, and F. Zimmerman. The claims were brought by the New Zealand Workers’ Union, which asked for a 44-hour week of five and a half working days, and working hours between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., except on Saturday, when work should cease at noon. The wages asked were 2s 6d an hour and found for all hands except the driver, who should receive 4s an hour, the feeder, who should receive 3s an hour, and the cook, who should receive £7 a week.

The employers proposed that the hours of work on standard and American mills and clover hullers should be from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with an allowance of 15 minutes to finish a set. For an employee on a header harvester, the hours of work should not exceed 14£ a day. The wages suggested by the employers were 2s 6d an hour or 25s a 1000 bushels for feeders, 2s 3d an hour for workers on standard or American mills, 2s 4-id an hour for drivers, and 2s 3d an hour for other workers on header harvesters. The scale of wages proposed for cooks ranged from £4 15s to £3 ss, according to the number of men. A scheme of piecework, with payment by the 1000 bushels threshed', according to the size of the mill, was also included in the employers’ coun-ter-proposals.