PRINTING INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 236, 5 October 1936, Page 9

PRINTING INDUSTRY.

WEEKLY HOURS QUESTION. REDUCTION MADE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ' • WELLINGTON, Sunday. A complete agreement in the printing industry dispute was concluded on Saturday by the Conciliation Council which met last Wednesday, in continuation of its proceedings in June. The settlement determines the condii tions of employment in one of the I largest industries in the Dominion, as the two awards under re'view apply to newspaper printing and publishing, commercial printing, the manufacture of stationery, and associated industrial activities. The only matter referred to the Arbitration Court was the preference clause. At a long sitting' of the council held last June, an agreement was reached on most of the machinery clauses of the two awards. The proceedings were adjourned pending a decision by the Court of Arbitration regarding the hours to be worked under the Factories' Amendment Act. Judgment was given by the Court that the reduction of the hours prescribed by the existing awards was impracticablc, and an order was made permitting the employers in the industry to work a 44-liour week, with a 42-liour week for certain classes of day workers and for'all night workers. The question of hours of work occupied the whole of the first two days' proceedings of the council. The workers' representatives strongly pressed the view that the hours should be modified, and after a long discussion the possibility of an agreement was discovered by their acknowledgment of the principle that, in view of the complexity and variety of conditions in several branches of the industry, it would be wiser to step down the hours instead of attempting to enforce a drastic alteration immediately. Proposal Amended. The employers then presented written proposal to reduce the hoars fov all workers in towns with populations of over 6000 by two stips, in Oitober and April, each of one hour in the case of 44-hour workers and of half an hour for 42-hour workers, the prescribed weekly wages to be paid for the shorter week and the employer to have the right to use additional hours at the ordinary rates of pay. The offer proposed that the workers engaged in newspaper production should work six days a week and other workers five days, the maximum hours a day to be nine to enable the five-day week to be worked. As the result of a long discussion, the proposal was amended by the exclusion from its operation of stationery manufacturing and by making the reduction to 42 and "41 hours respectively as from October 8, and also by limiting to 40 hours per annum the total added time that might be worked at ordinary rates. These provisions were incorporated in the agreement.

The employers also agreed to recommend all employers in the smaller towns to reduce the actual working hours as far as possible in order ooth to give their employees immediate benefit and also to adjust tlieir businesses to the possibility of a compulsory reduction by further legislation. The agreement also preserves the former provision for • a 10-hour day in weekly and certain -wintry newspaper offices, and one of the new clauses permits a 10-hohr day >n each week for publishing workers, who are brought into an award for the first time. Wages and Holidays. 1 Wages were fixed at the rates for the two classifications ruling before the reduction in 1931, the only increase being that promised by the employers in June for certain classes of stereotypers and rotary machinists. Holidays were fixed at one week annually, together with the eight toVy holidays and one additional' day providing for Anniversary Day or its equivalent. A new definition of night work was adopted for both awards. The agreement will come into force in the first working week 'in each factory commencing after October 8, and will continue until August 31, 1937. At the conclusion of the proceedings the commissioner congratulated the assessors on the success of their efforts to effect a complete settlement. On behalf of the workers' representatives, Mr. C. H. Chapman, M.P., said that, as the result of the reasonable attitude of the employers, an agreement had been reached, which he would defend against the most critical members of their organisation. Although the workers hoped shortly to achieve their objective of a 40-hour week, he was confident that the agreement would be recognised as a genuine effort by the employers to meet the wishes of the workers, and that as the result a contented spirit would be restored in the I industry.

STATIONERY WORKERS,

CBy Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The working hours for persons employed in stationery manufacturing will be regulated, according to the agreement in the printing dispute, by the provisions generally applying to commercial printing. The only special provision for this section of the industry is that the limitation of the total added time at ordinary rates to 40 hours per annum does not apply.