CARPENTERS' STRIKE IN MELBOURNE.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 263, 29 August 1888, Page 4

CARPENTERS' STRIKE IN MELBOURNE.

A cable message yesterday stated that a strike was imminent among the carpenters of Melbourne. From recent papers we learn that the Society of Carpenters "and "Joiners had met and resolved that the working rules of the trade should be as follows :—

1 Forty-four hours shall constitute a wee'k'3 work. Work to commence-each day at 8 o'clock a.m. and cease at <j.o clock p.m., with one hour's interval for.' dinner, work to cease on Saturdays at noon. . , 2. The wages to be Is 4^d per.hour. _ -~■ 3. Should overbime be required it shall be paid for according to the - following scale:—Erst. two:.hours, time .aud^halt j

" - "^' s% ?Vheo-vnK(ngare-to bo dischargje^wo hours'iiiotioB Jfip" Saiigiven, failing MM. two hours' extra pay, and every facility afforded to put their tools in order. 5. The distance men be expected to walk be one mile from shop or job; over that, fare to be paid, or walking time allowed,. 6, That wages bo paid' weeWy» »nd» ac

far as practicable, on Friday night. The employer or his representative to commence to pay directly work t ceases.; men on outside jobs to be paid on the job or allowed walking time to reach the pay table. 7. The employers to provide a suitable place,' properly secured, for the safety of tools.'. ' ' ■.. ; '■■', "■ .•' ■;■ ■'" . .-;

8. All piece work is forbidden. 9. When men are sent to a country job they shall receive 20 per cent, increase of pay,, travelling time, and fare paid both ways. -.".' ,: -, 10. All boys employed at the trade, 16 years of age and under, shall be legally bound apprentice for five years. 11. The proportion of apprentices to journeymen be 20 percent., that ratio to be struck by the average number of journeymen employed in the respective firms during the preceding twelve months. 12. All disputes, shall be settled by conference. The confreres to be equal numbers of the Builders' and, Contractors' Association and the executive of the Carpenters' and Joiners' Association; failing that, arbitration, each side to appoint an arbiter; they an umpire whose decision shall be final.

' 13. Any intended alteration in the foregoing rules shall be preceded by six months' notice, such notice to expire on 31st December.

The result of the adoption of these alterations would have been that the men would receive more wages weekly in return for four hours' less work. The Builders and Contractors' Association agreed to the reduction of hours, but demurred to the simultaneous increase of wages; and while giving their consent to several other proposals made by the men, they objected to the condition that no piece-work should be allowed, and to the arbitrary fixing of the proportion of apprentices to journeymen employed by each firm. On the question of overtime and double time, they suggested a compromise. Apparently, the differences between employers and employed have proved irreconcilable by amicable means, although the men proposed to refer the matters at issue to arbitration. There is, therefore, a prospect of a " strike "taking place, with a possibility of it taking the form of a "lock out"—the scarcity of coal threatening to paralyse the building trade, owing to the rise in the price of bricks at Melbourne.