THE OTHER SIDE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 8

THE OTHER SIDE.

Reading the remarks of the secretary of tlie Carpenters' Union, I was interested to know that the employers are leniently dealt with for breaches of awards. We are living in a strange age. Men get their awards fixed by arbitration, which ia the law; then they break it and go on • "stay-in" strike aaid receive 3d per hour extra for doing so. lam one of those unfortunate employers who have been fined. During the war I was approached by the secretary, of the Carpenters' Union to put on more men on a country job. They had agreed with their secretary to forgo lodging money and travelling time to get a job. AH was in order. I took the men in a launch, and the job was overcrowded. It was supposed to be a good act by me. When the work was finished. I got a demand from the men through their secretary for £8 odd for lodgings, ete. To save any trouble with the Labour Department I paid. Now. sir, did they honour their promise? On another occasion I did a large school out of Auckland by train. I lost all the gear and plans. Two labourers I took with me could not work, so I decided to buy them carpenters' tools and timber to build a lime shed till the gear came back from Wellington. They were discharged after six months' service on this contract. I then received a claim for carpenters* wages for building the lime shed. One more remark, in conclusion. I had working for me a labourer who had seven children. I asked the foreman to keep him on as long as possible. The next day this man was discharged for cutting eight by eight-inch first-class kauri, costing £3 per 100 ft. into firewood blocks. Now. Mr. Secretary. your flock are not without their faults, so don t ask the magistrate to rub it in after reading these facts. BUILDER.