TAILORS' AWARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 253, 24 October 1936, Page 13

TAILORS' AWARD.

FORTY-HOUR WEEK.

WAGES AND OVERTIME.

TEAM-WORK OBLIGATIONS,

The Court, of Arbitration .has issued a new award'for tailors in the northern industrial district, covering shops in Auckland city and throughout the province, from Te Kuiti to Dargaville. The principal matters referred to the Courtrelated to wages, hours, overtime and the team system. In other respects the award embodies recommendations arrived at by the assessors in the Conciliation Council. Ordinary hours ol fcorß are fixed at 40 per week. Employers are required to display in the work-room a statement, showing how the hours of work are regulated. The minimum wage for men employed on weekly wages, including pressers, is fixed at £4 17#>. With regard to piece workers, the time statement attached to the award of April, 1914, and amendments thereof, are to be incorporated with and form part of the present award, For the purposes of the award the time statement shall be calculated at the rate of 1/0J per hour. When other than weekly hands are employed at ladies' tailoring, the work may be done, at the option of the employer, either at log rates or the minimum rate of 2/5} per hour by the clock. All work performed beyond the hours prescribed shall be considered overtime, and is to be paid for on the following scale: —Weekly hands, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., time and a half, and thereafter double time; piece workers, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., 1/ per hour extra, and thereafter 2/ per hour extra, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. 1/ per hour extra. All work done after 1 p.m. on the weekly half-holiday is to be paid' for at double time, in the case of weekly hands, and l/<5 per hour extra for piece workers. Any time lost by a worker by default in any one week is to bp mado up before any over.time is payableand each week is to stand by itself. The provisions of the Factories Act relating to holidays and Sunday pay ments are Ho be deemed to be included in tils award. Distribution of Work. There is to be rair distribution of work among all operatives in each workroom. Where there are several workrooms, they shall be considered as one. During the slack season a turnbonrd is to be kept by employer and employees. Rules as to "standing time" shall be that at the first try-on, when the workman has picked the coat to pieces and given it to the cutter, to marie up and cut for him, if the worker is kept idle for more than 20 minutes by reason of the cutter not giving him back the coat within that time, he is to be paid full time for any period over the 20 minutes during which he shall be kept idle. The award also contains provisions regarding pressers who are not tailors, the right to introduce machinery, the division and sub-division of labour and a joint committee for disputes. The usual under-rate workers' clause is embodied and the award, which is to continue in force for 12 months,. wiU operate from October 20. Female Workers. One of the principal matters referred to the Arbitration Court in the Auckland tailoresses' and other female clothing trade employees' dispute waa the question of proportion of apprentices to workers, and it is laid down in the award issued by the Court to-day that the proportion of female apprentices to female operatives shall be one to two, calculated on two-thirds full-time employment for the six months immediately " prior to taking an apprentice. Apprentices' wages are fixed at IV a week for the first six months, rising each six months thereafter by 4/ to £1 15/ for the sixth six months, after which journeywomen's wages are to be paid. Those apprenticed to coat-making in their fourth year shall receive £2 2/0 frtr the first six months, £2 7/0 for the second six months, and journeywomen's wages thereafter. The wage for coatmakers is fixed at £2 15/ a week, for other journeywomen £2 8/- a week, and for "pieceworkers 1/li an hour. A 40-hour woiking week is fixed, time worked in excess of"40 hours to be paid for at the rate of time and a half for time workers, and either rate arid a half or 1/0 an hour for pieceworkers, whichever is the greater. Other provisions in the award are similar to those embodied in the tailors' award.