TRADE AND LABOUR MOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 53, 2 March 1916, Page 8

TRADE AND LABOUR MOTES.

UNION MEETINGS FOR THE'TVEEK:. This Evening, March 2—Moulders, Farriers, Nursery Employees, Newmarket Carpenters. Friday, March 3 — Bricklayers, Timberworkers' Executive. Saturday, TMarch -I—linkers. Sunday, March o—Hotel and Restaurant Employees. Monday. March C—ria.-,tcrers. Shipwrights. \* eduesday, March 7—dbeetnictal Workers. ARBITRATION" COURT AT. AUCKLAND. The • Court opened its business for 1916 at Auckland on Monday last, with a rather formidable list ot cases, that j will probably keep the members busy for the -rest of this month. On Tuesday and yesterday the disputes connected with privatae hotel;, and tea rooms and restaurants were heard. To-day and tomorrow certain compensation cases will be considered; on -Monday and Tuesday, the 6th and 7th inst., four disputes riled by the Auckland General Labourers' Union are set down. They are in conntction with -builders' labourers, contractors' labourers, coal, lime and cement workers, and quarry men. The Sth and 9th arc allotted to the Auckland Motor and Horse Drivers' Union, for a series of sectional disputes affecting the many sections of workers who are members of that union. On Friday, the 10th, the Farriers and General Blacksmiths' dispute will be heard. March 13th, bakers; loth, meat preservers; Thursday, the . _lbth, Auckland Certificated Engine Drivers' dispute. On Monday, the 20th, the Court will sit at Hamilton at 2.30 p.m. A KHAKI ADVOCATE. Considerable interest was manifested in the two disputes concerning the employees in private boardinghouses, and tea rooms and restaurants, on Tuesday aud yesterday. In the first place these establishments have been sought to be brought under an award, for some years past, by .:ihe Auckland Hotel.' and Restaurant Employees' Union, but from one", cause and another they have > .managed to keep clear of the Court proceedings. At one time' it was the pronounced disinclination of the previous t president of the Court to allow them to :■ be included in an award. Indeed, at one time it was held that boardingi house employees were Tiot hired for pro- - fit, like those of. a licensed hotel, and - therefore should not have settled con- ' ditions. 1 have always failed to see ' this argument, for . 1 never knew a ' I boardinghouse proprietor yet who ran E iSfi establishment from philanthropio motives; he always expected a profit, 1 and a handsome one too, and the fact " that he failed, was not from his ex--1 pectations, but rather to his realisations. ? Last October another attempt was made, but owing to the union not hay- ' ing gone through certain very necessary f forms in creating a dispute it was no: c properly before the Court, In the h meantime the southern boardingh onset '' had been brought under an award, anc c the Auckland dispute reached the Con c ciliation Commissioner, but the em a plovers dug themselves in and refuscc U to agree to anything. They hoped for i n j decision from the Court -that they wcr, *= not eligible for an awaTd, but this hop. :e was denied them, on the first day, am

a. mutual settlement followed on the lines of the southern award, Lance-Cor-poral Tom Long, on special leave from Trentham. conducted the disputes on behalf of'his union, and there is no doubt it was the khaki that did it, for apart from the arguments, which were well put. the uniform helped considerably to carry conviction to the Court. THE MIXERS' DELEGATES. The two delegates from the, Miners' Unions of Broken Hill are now m Wellington, and I am in ormed secured upwards of £00 from collections taken v, on one Sunday there. Jn Auckland upwards of £30. were obtained from their meetings here, and this amount is likely to be considerably augmented by donations from the - unions as they meet, from -time to time in addition -to which a big social and dance is to be held at the Trades Hall, the week after i next the proceeds from which are to ne i to the Broken Hill Distress ! Fund. ' """ - •-• — '■'■ POWER TO AMEND AWARDS. ; ..'-rour applications, were; made on Mon- ; day by certain individuarcmployers.for Man"amendment to awards. The particu--2 lar trades concerned were the tarpen--1 tero plumbers, bricklayers, and iron--1 workers' labourers. That of the car- , penters' award was made by a big firm ! of builders, who sought for relief from havin«- to pay increased rates lor traveiI ling time to the job, which is about six mifes from Auckland. The application r in this, as in the other three, was rofused, as the Court held that it had no * jurisdiction to reopen-an award, or to L alter an award, save at the request of l " all the parties, unless it has omitted or ' inserted anything that was not intended to be omitted or inserted, in which case it may amend an error. This decision has a far-reaching effect in the case eon-

cerning travelling time, for back money , to the extent of over £260 will have to be t paid out this week, and a3 the work ] amounts to over £40,000 worth, the . amount involved will not be far shoTt of 1 £800 for travelling time and other ex- ; tras by the time the job is finished. The ( union "representatives relied on a dcci- ] =ion "iven at Napier by the Court as . recently as July 20, 1015, under the - Hawke's Bay carpenters' award, and this 7 was fatal, 'in the application under the , plumbers' award. Mr. P. E. Wright asked the -Judge to hear the matter under the ] " equity and good conscience" clause of the Act; but his Honor replied: ''That assumes that we have jurisdiction in the matter. The exemption of a particular man or_ firm from an award is not 'remedying a defect or omission.'" In the application under the carpenters' award, Mr. P. I- Clarke fought hard to be allowed to state the particular circumstances under clause 81 of the Act. but the Judge was adamantine, and said. "It might very well hi* that we should have protected this firm, but you do not touch the question that we are faced with, namely, our jurisdiction to deal with it."FARRIERS' AGREEMENT: The Auckland farriers and general blacksmith's dispute, so far as the master farriers are concerned, was • settled before the Conciliation Commissioner, and the agreement came into I force yesterday. March Ist. Under it j the men are to be paid 1/5 and 1/3 per j j hour for farriers and doormen respec-i I tively. In this dispute there were three i distinct parties, the workers' union, the ■ Master Farriers' Union and the Master Carriers' Association. The two first com1' "bined against the master carriers, and came to a complete. settlement, -which wiU be. made into an award on the 10th

if March. Under the previous award, he master carriers who employ farriers o shoe their own horses were allowld o start their men at 6 a.m., an hour tnd a-half earlier than in the shops beonging to the master farriers, without ivertime being paid for this privilege, rhis has been opposed by masters and nen, and when the dispute comes heorc the Court on the 10th the carriers ,vill seek to have a clause inserted to :ontinuc this privilege. The other two . Darties will unite to oppose this. In the neantime the increased rates will be laid, leaving the question of double time for the extra hour and a half to be fought out before the Court. JOTTINGS. Delegates from the TypographicalUnions in the Dominion will meet in Dunedin on Monday. The conference will discuss matters of import to the trade. Ex-Speaker "Willis, of Xew South Wales, has joined the 1/abour party. Bernard Shaw, in a recent speech on '"The Nation's Vitality," said that in England 100.000 babies," or 12.J per cent., died before they were a year old. At the conclusion of his speech he rather

"rattled" his audience by looking at his ; watch and saying: "Ten babies have died since I began to speak—nine of them have been murdered!'' A report of the German Woodworkers' Union, published in the "British Amalgamated Carpenters' .lournal," indicates that British workmen have not been the only ones to claim increases during the war. The union reports advances of wages in certain sections up to •20 per cent. Berlin aircraft woodworkers and men engaged re-building East Prussian buildings were amongst those that . benefited. The union has now a membership of over a hundred thousand, but this is only half of the roll number before the war. , Two notable American Socialist victories were won on November 2. The Socialists of Greater New York elected .their first candidate to the State Legislature. This is the first Socialist ever sent to the rotate Legislature from Greater New York. There is general rejoicing at Socialist headquarters. The Socialists of Schenectady, X.Y., re-elected George R. Lunn Mayor by a plurality of about 1500 votes. Two years ago the capitalist parties combined against the Socialists and Lunn was defeated. A considerable amount of indignation is being felt among Christchurch drapers at the action of some firm or firms, who have failed to pay the wages stipulated in the recent agreement arrived at between the union and the employers at the Conciliation Council. Recently a number of drapers waited on the writer in connection with the matter, but as the employers have the legal right to refuse to pay until the agreement is endorsed by the Court, nothing can be done. The usual procedure adopted is to- pay out on the date fixed by the Conciliation Council for the new" award to take effect. -Who the firm or firms are who have refused to pay I do not know, but the union members who approached the writer intimated their intentkm of moving in their union to have the names of the offending firms forwarded to all trade unions. It is a fair request to the employers concerned to reconsider their attitude, and it is to be hoped that they will avoid unpleasantness by complying with the established procedure in these matters.—D. G. Sullivan, in Christchurch "Sun" Labour Column. .