TAXI DRIVERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 174, 24 July 1936, Page 8

TAXI DRIVERS.

AGREEMENT SIGNED. OPERATIVE FROIVT YESTERDAY. A WEEKLY WAGE OF £4 5/. An agreement covering the wages and conditions*' of taxi drivers in Auckland was signed by representatives of motor transport interests and of the Auckland Drivers' Union last evening, and became operative as from yesterday. The minimum wage agreed upon is £4 5/, plus commission, and the hours of work are fixed at 51 a week, to be worked in six shifts not exceedng 8A hours each within a span of 12 consecutive hours from the time of signing on. There is a further provision that a driver, having been hooked off at the conclusion of his shift, shall not be booked on again until the expiration of 10 hours, except in the case of the weekly rotation of shifts. Overtime is provided for at the rate of 2/0 an hour, and the wage for casual drivers is fixed at 2/0 an hour ordinary time and 3/3 an hour for any time worked in excess of 8J hours on any one day. After 12 months' service drivers are to be granted one week's annual leave on full pay.

The agreement, which is to operate throughout .the Auckland industrial district, is to continue in force until the end of the present year unless superseded by an award. It was signed on behalf of the union by Messrs. C. Lindsay and G. Davis, and by Messrs. A. <T. Crocker and A. Murray (Attn Company), A. Sinclair (Checker Taxi Company), and O. J. Hassell (Johnston's Blue Motors, Ltd.).

A protracted conference was held between the parties to the* agreement yesterday in view of a suggestion that one of the taxi firms involved might not be able to employ all its drivers under the new conditions. According to Mr. Lindsay, however, the companies agreed to give the matter a trial with the whole of their staffs to ascertain if the financial position would warrant a continuance of this policy. It was agreed by both sides that the agreement should be only a temporary arrangement in order that the taxi business might have an opportunity to become properly stabilised. The agreement, added Mr. Lindsay, did not cover owner-drivers, but provided for approximately 100 drivers, only a few of whom have been earning the wages prescribed in the agreement 111 the pasi. £he men affected had previously been working under a system under which the driver was the bailee of the car while he was in charge of it. The effect of this was that third-party damages could be claimed against the driver and not against the owner of the vehicle. The agreement had been signed at 5 p.m., and became operative from yesterday.

TRIAL PERIOD

MEETING NEW CONDITIONS. RETURNING PROSPERITY. 111 a statement as regards the position in so far as it will affect the Atta Taxicab Company, the manager, Mr. Murray, stated this morning that naturally it would have some effect, but his company had as far as possible agreed to meet the new conditions for a trial period. "It has been suggested that in order to meet the new conditions application should be made for an increased scale of fare charges, but the Atta Company is not anxious that these new proposals should be met by resorting to this measure. In view of the returning prosperity it should be possible for the award to be workable. I also wish to pay a tribute to the Drivers' Union officials and executive officers for the manner in which the negotiations have been conducted," Mr. Murray said. He added that it was yet too early to make further comment.