ANOTHER APPLICATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 194, 18 August 1931, Page 10

ANOTHER APPLICATION.

EXEMPTION FROM « CUT."

BAKERS AND PASTRYCOOKS

Application for exemption from the general order reducing wages was made in the Arbitration Court yesterday afternoon by the bakers and pastrycooks. The Court reserved its decision.

Mr. E. J. Watson represented the' union and Mr. S. E. Wright the employers. The grounds for exemption were that the bakers and pastrycooks had never received skilled rates of wages; that labourers affected by the award did not receive the basic wage; that labourers had to work under worse conditions than most tradesmen; that the wagee reduction would have no appreciable effect on the price of bread, which was governed by the price of flour; that the industry could pay the full rates without hardship, and that there had been no desire on the part of the master bakers to terminate the award until its expiration.

Mr. Watson said that the reduction of wages was only taking the money out of the hands of the employees and putting it into the employers' pockets. Mr. Wright eaid that the business was not in the flourishing condition described by Mr. Watson. The wages of bakers had been compared with the hourly rates in other trades, where workers suffered loss of time, and it had been found that the bakers were in a better position in regard to employment than other tradesmen. The reduction in wages would be reflected in due course in a reduction in the price of bread.