TRADE & LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 135, 8 June 1911, Page 8

TRADE & LABOUR NOTES.

■■ ■ ■ ' ■ — -— [ (By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) UXIOX MEETINGS FOB THE WEEK. This Evening, June S—Dairy Employees, BoUerm—iers. Friday, June 9—Brewery Employees. [ Saturday, June 10 —Chemical Workerss (Ota_uhu). Monday, June --—Shipwrights (special). Tuesday, June 13—Plumbers. I Wednesday, June 14—'.Yaier.side Workers. Thursday, June lo —Stone—as—is. About a month ago circulars were issued to the local unions inviting the | appointment of three delegates to re- j present each union on the 1911 Labour j Day Committee. The date fixed' for the j first meeting was June 9, but owing to i Professor Mills' lecture at St. James' j Hall falling on the same evening, it has j been decided to postpone the meeting; for a week, so as to enable all delegates' to hear the American orator. i There are important developments in; j progress in connection with the Auck- j ; land branch of the Amalgamated Society j of Carpenters and Joiners. The society|in New Zealand is governed 'by an ex-; \ ecutive board with headquarters at Wei- j lington for the time being. The board j jis usually referred to as the E.B. Forj | some time past the E.B. has been of | I the opinion that the Auckland branch, ■ ! with its 350 members in the ordinary \ : and trade sections, added to about 4001 j menibers of the local section, has been i unwieldly for the good government of, j the trade, and it has been decided to i divide the Auckland branch into five i I smaller branches, under the titles of i Central, Mt. Eden, Newmarket, Ponsonby, and Devonport branches respec- | tivcly. At special meetings held in all the I branches throughout the world recently,l it was decided hy a majority of 10,6841 I votes to merge the trade section and | , the New Zealand sections into one, and; ! the. consequence- is that the present] j Auckland branch now numbers over 700 I ■ members. One o" the rales of the society :is that no branch shall have more than '250 raem'bers, and hence the proposed! I subdivisions. The new rules came into! i operation at the close of the March ! quarter, and two organising secretaries ' under the authority of the E.B. are now in Auckland, carrying out the business of subdivision. They are: Messrs. Ivor Hazell, of Wellington, and James Hookings, of Napier. For some time past Wellington members have bsen gathered Into smaller branches under the names of Brooklyn, 60 members; Lower ! Hutt 69, Petone 80, Wellington 270, 1 South Wellington 210, and North Welj lington 211. At tbe same time Auckland i returned a membership of' 696, Christ- ! church 287, and Dunedin 471. There is ;no doubt that the proposed subdivision in Auckland will make for increased efficiency, as each branch will have its own officers, while an organising secretary will be appointed for the Auckland district, as in the South. Some of the more conservative members do not view the new movement with any degree of complacency, but the rules of the society are inexorable, and as good unionists they must obey.

Quite a flutter of excitement has beecaused in industrial circles in Auckland by the perusal in our columns of the decision of the Arbitration Court in a matter in which there is a conflict between the Shops and Offices Act and: the grocers' award; the award is paramount. The Act says that when a public holiday occurs during the week the statutory half-holiday need not be ob-1 served, ln the Auckland grocers' award, delivered July 1(1, 1906, occurs the fol- j lowing clause; —"(15) Nothing in "this| award shall be deemed to limit the effect or operation of any Act now or herein-! after in force relating to shops and! shop-assistants, or to the hours of work of such persons. This award has been superseded by the present grocers' J award, which*expires March 31, 1912, and in which the clause just quoted does not appear. The effect of this is to make the award and it expressly lays down that the weekly halfholiday must be observed, or overtime paid." In effect the Act says: "You may substitute Coronation Day for the weekly half-holiday if you like,'' and the award retorts: "Certainly, but if you do work on the half-holiday you must be paid overtime rates." When the award came into operation, the master grocers got back on the union by giving time off on Saturday, so as to allow of assistants working hill 9.30 p.m., without payment of thirty minutes' overtime, and the Court agreed with the idea. Now, the quid pro quo has been received from the Court by the men, and both parties should be satisfied. The employers are approaching the workers' union with a proposal that if the employees will agree not to charge for overtime when working on the afternoon of the 21st of June, a whole holiday would be given on Coronation Day, 22nd. This seems a fair proposition on the surface, but in the first place it means the surrendering of a principle recently won; secondly, it means giving 7J hours' work to get a nine-hour holiday, as in addition to the five hours on Wednesday afternoon the employer will insist on two hours an the evening as a late night before a holiday, which at time and a-quarter is equal to 2.J hours. However, the matter is under consideration.

The Christchurch representation committee, which carried out all arrangements in conection with the recent municipal elections, has decided not to disband, but will fulfil a similar duty in connection with the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. The committee is composed of representatives from all progressive bodies, including the Labour party, the Labour Council, Socialist party, Burgesses' Association, etc. Early last year a contract was let by the Queensland Government for tho construction of a road in the vicinity of Mount Fox, to cost £S7OO. The work should have been completed in September last year, but only about two chains out of eight miles have been completed to date. The Government has now decided to do the work by day labour. Philip Snowden, the English Labour 1 M.P., scouts the idea of a general strike under present conditions as a means of putting an end to war. "What," he asks, "would have been the chances of a general strike of British workmen at the time of the Boer war? The working classes were as jingoish and as bloodthirsty at that time as any other class. For a general strike to succeed it would be necessary that there should be almost complete solidarity among the workers, and full sympathy between the democracies of the different countries affected by the war." This does not exist, and Snowden adds that by the time it has been established, "the workers will conI trol the Governments, and there will be no wars."

When the drapers' award comes into force in Melbourne, male adult assistants in that city will receive an increase of 8/ a week. The existing wage is £2 10/ a week, and is to be raised to £2

18/. Working hours, on the other hand, will be reduced from 50 to 48. The board has not yet completed its work. Before the hoard was created assistants were working in many shops for 30/ a week. . These will benefit to the extent of 23/ by the new award. The appointment of the hoard was the result of the formation of the Shop Assistants and Warehouse Employees' Federation, which! agitated until Parliament eventually conceded the organisation's demand for industrial award regulations of the i trade. About 5000 drapers' assistants' are affected, ln New Zealand there is no award governing the employment of| assistants in drapery establishments.

Professor W. T. Mills, of the United States, who has been spending some timei in the Commonwealth lecturing on Lab-' our and Socialism, will arrive in Auckland on Sunday nest. The professor will lecture in Auckl-tid under the auspices of the N.Z. Trades Councils' Executive, and from a private wire received by mc from the South, Mr. James Taing, secretary of the executive, will arrive from Christchurei to-morrow morning, presumably to make arrangements for the Professor's tour. The lecturer has gained high encomiums from his Australian audiences, for his instructive and eloquent addresses, and figured prominently amongst the speakers who engaged in propaganda work previous to the taking of the Referenda votes in the Commonwealth last month.

•The 'Labour Clarion,' of San Francisco, has entered its 10th year. Congratulations are due Editor French, who has made the ' Clarion' a splendid escrapiar of labour journalism. The ' Clarion' is a good paper and growing bettor every week. Long may its resounding notes be heard in the land!" The foregoing extract is taken from tbe "Coast Seamen"s Journal," of San Francisco, and tha editor, named is Mr. Will J. French, an Auckland boy, who served his apprenticeship as a compositor in this office. He ib the eldest son of Mr. Robert French, of Remuera, and shortly after he came out of his apprenticeship he went to America, settling down in the State of California. For some years past he has edited the "Labour Clarion,'' the official journal of the San Francisco Labour Council and California State Federation of Labour. The paper is published weekly, and on February 17th started on its 10th year. Since the commencement of the present year the price of flour in Australia has dropped 35/ per ton, but the price of bread remains the same. The Labour party is now talking of State flour mills i and State bakeries. The Speaker entertained to luncheon at his house last month the members of the British Parliamentary Labour party. This is the first time that the Speaker has, in this way, recognised the Labour group as a distinct party in the House of Commons.