"IMPRACTICABLE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 220, 17 September 1930, Page 8

"IMPRACTICABLE."

BASIC WAGE INCREASE.. ARBITRATION COURT'S VIEW. WELLINGTON LABOURERS' AWARD.

"With a few exceptions, the Wellington Guilders, contractors \ and general labourers' award, just issued, follows the lines of the expired award, states the Arbitration Court in a memorandum. "The principal matter .in dispute was wages. A majority of the Court cannot see its way to increase wages at the present time. The present rates were fixed when the cost of living figures were higher than they are now. Even though the basic rate may appear to be low, there is evidence that employers generally treat the minimum rate as.a true minimum, in the city of Wellington, and pay higher rates to many of their employees. "This, however, does not amount to proof of the possibility of raising the basic wage for the whole district. It is impossible to increase the basic rate for the unskilled labourer, for, as was pointed out in the memorandum to the expired award, wages arc, in the ultimate analysis, paid out of. production, and the results of production do not justify any' increase. The minimum rate, "in such circumstances, is not a matter of ethics, but of practical possibilities, and the Court is satisfied that it is impracticable to raise the basic rate at present, for an increase in that rate would have repercussions in almost every trade."

Labour Representative Dissents. Mr. A. L. Monteith'recorded a dissentopinion. He said: "I am not in agreement with the wage rates awarded. The whole Province of Canterbury has had (by agreement of the parties) a minimum rate of 1/11 since February 1 192G, over four and a half years. r lhe evidence showed that workers lost considerable time because of wet weather and intermittent employment. Men who received from 2/ to 2/3 per hour on y averaged about £3 7/to £3 10/ per week. The Wanganui Harbour .Board is to,day paying 1/11,. and I. believe the _ Court should have made the Wanganui Haibour Board rate 1/11?"