THE SERVANT PROBLEM.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 280, 24 November 1915, Page 6

THE SERVANT PROBLEM.

QUESTION FOR CONCILIATION. EMPLOYERS DENY DISPUTE. AN UNUSUAL PROCEEDING. The proceedings at the Conciliation Council this morning were of a somewhat unusual nature. A dispute was brought before the Commissioner (Mr. T. Harle Giles) by the Hotel and Restaurant Employees' Union in relation to boardinghousc employees. The employers declined to negotiate, on the ground that the problem -was too closely related to that of domestic servants in private homes. The assessors for the employers were Mrs. R. Barker and Messrs. A. A. Brown and E. F. Black, and for the union Messrs. A. Jackson, P. White, and H. E. Barnslcy. Mr. S. E. Wright appeared for the employers, and Mr. T. for the union. The dispute wae previously 'before the Council on August 30. Owing to an irregularity in the matter of filing, the Arbitration Court recommended the parties to confer, and, if unable to arrive at a settlement, to renew their application before the Conciliation Council. A conference has since been held, without any satisfactory result, and the matter therefore again came ■before the Council. The Commissioner said he would be glad to know what attitude the employers proposed taking up. Mr. Wright said the employers had met and had gone fully into the claims. They had come to the conclusion that it was getting too close to the domestic servant problem in private homes. They were not prepared to discuss the claims, but preferred to leave it to tho Arbitration Court to decide whether an award was necessary. The employers took up the attitude that an award was unnecessary. The Commissioner: Then you arc not prepared to go into the merits of the case at all? ' Mr. Wright: No. Without any feeling oi antagonism to the union, we take up the attitude that no award is necessary. Mr. Long: There is no use prolonging the agony. It will he best to send the case right on to the Arbitration Court. The Commissioner: Under the circumstances there is no use double-banking. The case will be sent on as an unsettled dispute to the Arbitration Court.