BUILDING TRADES.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 252, 23 October 1919, Page 7

BUILDING TRADES.

ONE BIG A-WTARD PROPOSAL. TO-DAY'S CONFERENCE. PIASTERS AXD MEN AGREED. TO APPLY TO COURT. The building trades conference called at the instance of thp Auckland Building Trades Federation, with the object of discussing the possibilities of arriving at one award for the building trade, opened at the rooms of the Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. T. Ilarle Giles) this morning. The following were the workers' unions represented and their delegates: Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, Mr. T. Bloodworth; Furniture Trade Workers, Mr. \Y. Maneon; Operative Plumbers' Union, Mr. J. Clark; Bricklayers' Union. Mr. C. H. Parker; Plasterers" Union, Mr. E. G. Miles: Elec-triv-iaus* Union. Mr. J. Hartwell: Operative Masons. Mr. H. A. Bicknell; Operative Painters. Mr. E. C. Staples. The representation of the employers wa?: Master Builders' Association, Messrs. W. Ball (president), S. 1. Clarke and T. Julian: Plasterers, Mr. J. M. Thomson. Mr. J. Tapper watched the proceedings for the master painters, and Mr. \Y~. Parkinson for the masons. WASTED FOR YEARS. Explaining the circumstances that had led iip to the conference, the Conciliation Commissioner stated that some time ago certain unions in connection witt the building: trades approached him wit! the suggestion that he should pet intc toui-h with the various associations and unions representing the masters and endeavour to call a conference having foi its object the establishing of a uniforir set of ■ onditions for the trade. The idea vv: % not a new one. For mam Tears j-;_:t when disputes in connection ■with the trade had come before him th< opinion had been voiced repeatedly thai it would be* a good thing for the" trad< if an award eonld be made to cover th( whole of the branches of th c trade, e< that the conditions of work might b< made uniform. It was frequently" to be noticed that one particular trade'workec «' many hours, and another less or more and that there were machinery clause* Which were dissimilar, and it had beei argued that some effort ought to b< made to bring them into line and preven; overlaying. The time had now arrive* when there seemed to be an opportunity of bringing the whole of the buildini trade workers under nne award, at al events in regard to conditions of employment. In reply to a letter he had sent t. the secretaries of the various masters associations he received a response fron the Isuilders' Association approving o the conference, and he understood tha the bricklayers also approved of it. Th. furniture trades without heeitatioi tiirne.i the proposal down, and intimate, that they did not intend to be repre eented. Tin- plumbers, while not definitely rejecting the proposal, viewed the matte" as beinir of such importance that thedecided not to b<? represented at the con ference. but to refer the matter to th Dominion Federation tor instruction; The electricians "had also declined to b represented on the ground that the , •would not feel justified in acting wifchou first referring- the matter to the mem bers. The plumbers promised that th matter would be brought before th members of their association at an earl date. Jn regard to the Painters' Guile Mr. Tapper was present, without powe io act. THE LEGAL POSITION". Mr. Giles went on to say that the fins point that arose was as to whether th conference was in order. There iva nothing to prevent an informal confei ence being held, but to his mind th gathering was not altogether informa because it was actually in eonforniit with the provisions of the Arbitratio Act. which was very clear. The Con niissioner made reference to vaxiou authorities, including Section 23, statin that the Governor might, from time t time, by notice in the Gazette, dedal any specified industries to be related t one another, and such industries shall t deemed to be related awordino'ly. Th same section stated that the Com should aUo. in any industrial dispute have jurisdiction to declare industrif to be related to one another. Tt amended Act made provision for two c more industrial unions to join togeth< for the purpose of making application i the Court. On the strength of the Ac Mr. Giles ventured the opinion that ■was perfectly competent for a dispute i be raised covering the whole of the ii dustry. He had his doubts about th inclusion of the furniture trade, ac 1 •could not see that tables and chairs 'ha anything to do with building, althous work connected with fittings to housi and shops might be deemed to be relate to the building trade. Mr. Manson: That is eabinetmaking. The Commissioner added that thei nyght also be some question in regard 1 the inclusion of the electrical trades, i frequently the institution of electric; lighting was independent of ordinal •construction. What he was sure aboi vas that the carpenters, bricklayer painters, plumbers, masons, and pla terers -were all allied trades that wei distinctly related. He looked upon tl conference as a preliminary -proceedii at which nothing very definite could 1 done, but at which, for example, might be determined what further actic should be taken in order to get oi award for the trade. Already tl unions were federated, and an altern tive ti getting an Order-in-Couneil wou be for the unions to ask the Court 1 declare that the industries were relatt to one another. A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY. The Commissioner's, remarks wei Biipnl.wni-.-d by Mr. T. P.loodwort f-ecTcinrv of *h< , Carpenters' Union, wl pointed out that eiaht ("killed trades we) ■represented, and tnat there was a unit]! opportunity for bringing about oi award, inasmuch as in five of the skill* trades the awards would have expired 1 January 21. Already, in Marlbor r.iu tbcTe was one .-ward covering the enrpe ters, painters, plumbers, and brirk|ayrr 111 Wellington the employers had ma similar application, but in that cas.-> vas the workers who we>v not uriliin In trie {.resent instance, pointed 0"t t. speaker, the unions could have joiw and made an application under the Ac but they thought it would be better call an informal conference first. Mr. Ball, president of the Mast Builders' Association, said that ciation was quite prepared to consid proposals to co-ordinate machine: clauses, but Mr. Bloodworth and his cc leagues had been given distinctly understand that discussion would ha to be limited to those matters and n extended to wages, which had been raisi in the proposals formulated by tl unions. At a later stage, the san

speaker pointed out that in order to | make the unifying of machinery clauses I of any value it -would be neressary for the labourers, who' were not represented ] at the conference, to come in. ! A general discussion ensued in regard to the scope of the conference in yiew of | the fact that the gathering waa not | 4 representative of all branches of the ( trade, and the Commissioner tentatively ! proposed that a uniform set of conditions might be drawn up as a basis of the award, so that the wages could be discussed by the trades individually. Mr. i S. I. Clarke pointed out that the masters ! j were willing and anxious to have the ,{. workers under one award, so that they :., would no longer be faced with the posi- j tion of having to send two men to do one c small job, but added that under the pre- _, sent circumstances the branches which j j were not represented might deem it an j , I impertinence if the conference attempted , to define conditions for the whole of the { trade. i CLEARING THE WAY. 8 Mt. Bloodworth asked whether, in the t event of the unions filing a dispute, the < Master Builders' Association would be prepared to support that action, and Mr. ( Clarke replied that the presence of the > employers' representatives showed that < they were willing and anxious to have j ' one award, so that the trade would no longer be cut up into a lot of little 1 sections. The difficulty in regard to the limitation of voting assessors to three on either side was also discussed at some length, | and there was a cansensus of opinion that after preliminaries had been thrashed out by representatives of the various trades the actual framing of the award would have to be delegated to the "Rig Three" on each side. Ultimately the conference ended on the understanding that the unions would prepare joint claims for filing. j * Mr. Bloodworth moved a vote of thanks i to the Commissioner for presiding, an* * Mr. Ball, in seconding, expressed the ! opinion that the atmosphere had been '. ' cleared to a great extent by the confer- ; l ence. inasmuch as what had been done : ' would be helpful to the other trades not 5 represented. The master builders had come to the conference anxious to have everything square and above-board. | In renly. the Commissioner remarked : that although the conference had achieved ' little in one sense, much had been clone to pave the way for future action.