TRADES AND LABOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 209, 3 September 1932, Page 16

TRADES AND LABOUR.

AUCKLAND UNION ACTIVITIES. (By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) UHION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. This Evening, September 3.—Bakers (special). Monday, September 5. —Belated Printing Trades (special) ; Chemical Manure Workers (Tβ Papapa). Tuesday, September 6. —Seamen (monthly stop-worfc meeting) ; Caretakers and Cleaners. ■Wednesday, September 7.—Hotel Workers. Biscuit and Confectionery Workers. Thursday, September 7. —Triiniwavmen (a.m. and p.m. shifts). Friday, September 9. —Curriers. THE BAKERS' DISPUTE. Last week mention was mad" in tV column of the fact tkat the Auckland Master Bakers' Industrial Union of Employers had filed an application for a new award, in which a drastic reduction of wages and provision for the employment of females were included. This is apparently in line with the policy of the employers all over the Dominion to force a much lower rate of wages, and increase of working hours, with the alternative of the abolition of existing awards, if no agreement is arrived at before the Conciliation Commissioner. This alternative, unless in the case of small unions, is the more likely to happen. Then will follow a position similar to what obtained in New Zealand prior to the passing of the Act in 1894, when the "good old axiom of supply and demand" was quoted and observed. I have a copy of the application before me as filed by the master bakers, and it not only cites the Auckland Bakers' Union, but also the Xew Zealand Federation of Bakers' Unions, so that the dispute will be heard in the other centres in the South. The employment of females clause states: "(a)* Where females are employed as journeywomen they shall be paid, two-thirds the wages of journeymen. Females other than journeywomen and apprentices shall not be employed to manufacture any goods in the bakehouse or do any hot-plate work." It will be seen that* the question of "equal pay for equal work" does not operate in this case. In considering the proposal to drastically reduce wages of all sections of the trade, one must not overlook the fact that this is in addition to the 10 per cent wages cut, and the unemployment levies. The dates for hearing now fixed are: Auckland, September 19; Wellington, September 29; Christchureh, October 4; and Dunedin, October 6. If no agreement, is arrived at in ''conciliation council," the present award will expire one month after the Conciliation Commissioner has reported upon the failure to agree. OTHER DISPUTES. This week the biscuit and confectionery workers' dispute was heard in Christchureh, it being part of a Dominion hearing. A deadlock occurring over wages and hours, no agreement was arrived at. Two settlements are reported, one being in the Wellington tailoresses' case, where an actual increase in pay was agreed to on terms that are regarded as satisfactory by both sides, and the Wellington tramways' dispute, but no details are yet to hand for publication. With the exception of these "oases in the desert," all: the other disputes are waging a war against time, and finality will not be reached until after some weary weeks of waiting. . Among the disputes that are, so to speak, marking time, may be mentioned those of the watersiders and the slaughtermen, two industries in which there are large and militant unions. The former are working under a rather curious arrangement, the men observing the old conditions, which include the old manning scale, but accepting the new wages, "under protest." What this means, time alone will show. The freezing workers, who include the slaughtermen, are now engaged in conferences with the employers and among themselves, which of course takes time, but the busy season does not start until October, wherj matters will be settled one wav. or the other.

Thi3 week proposals have been filed by the employers for a new award with the' Auckland Creameries, Cheese and Butter Factories Unioii to replace the award which expired last year. An allround reduction of 10 per cent in wages is sought. This is additional to the 10 per cent cut on the old award figures, and also includes provisions to enable employers to make ah increased use of boy labour. LOOKING BACK. It may be thought by some of my readers that ray comments lately have been of a rather dismal tone, but one must face facts as they are. We are drifting into an industrial Sargasso Sea, with slack water and derelicts and decay all around, with danger to our propellers. The Labour party in Parliament, with a few of the other members, expressed their sense of probable danger when the Amendment Bill was before the House in April last. Even in the Legislative Council the warnings were not absent when the bill reached that chamber. The Hon. C. J. Carrington, in a speech opposing the bill, is reported as eaying; The amendments proposed were eo draetic and dangerous that the council had a very serious duty to perform, not only to the workers of the Dominion, but to the people as a whole. If the employers desired they could have the workers at their mercy. The amendments were apparently desired by the captains of industry, and it was therefore their duty to protect the interests of the workers against any possible exploitation. It seemed that the object of the bill was either to kill the arbitration system or render it unworkable. The workers were to be left to the mercy of .the employers without the protection of the Court, if the employers said so. Sir James Parr: No. Mr. Carrington: Well, that is the way I read it." There could not be freedom of contract between the employer and the worker. The employer was invulnerable with bis wealth, and the hungry worker had to take the wages offered or go hungry in his hungry home.

These, it must be remembered, are not the impassioned words of a Labour man from the soap box, but the considered utterances of a man who has worked under the Act in Auckland as an apprentice, a journeyman and as an employer. It is quite true that he was appointed to the Upper House by the Reform Government, but that should give an additional weight to his opinions upon this position that we-are fast drifting into.