DOMINION DISPUTE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 68, 22 March 1938, Page 9

DOMINION DISPUTE.

UPHOLSTERY WORKERS. ARBITRATION COURT HEARING. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLING TOST, Monday. The hearing of the Dominion npholstreeses' dispute occupied the Arbitration Cour: in Wellington to-dny. The parties met in Conciliation Council in April, 1937, said Mr. F. Cornwell, for the workers. The clauses not settled concerned the five-day week, wages, proportion of learners, annual holiday and deductions. Male workers had Leen given a fiveday week, with daily hours from 7.45 a.m. to 5 ]-.m., he added. Furniture factories and retail furniture shops did not at present employ uphc!?treesee on Saturdays. The wages claimed were £3 for journeywonien, with a special rate of £4 a week for journeywonien cutting loose covers. With respect to learners, it was stated that wages for four yeare' service under the Factories Act Amendment, 193(3, would be £299 a year. Under the claims the amount would be £341 5/. The difference was claimed to be moderate.

The annual holiday asked for was a period of five working days from Christmas to January 3. Won.en workers should receive at least, a full week's holiday pay.

For the employers, Mr. W. J. Mountjoy said, on the question of Saturday morning work, that many employers were not furniture manufacturers only, b;it conducted drapery and other classes of business. The employers requested a working w.eek of 40 hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on five daye of the week and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The wages for journeywomen, it was suggested, should be £2 5/ a w-»ek, and fearners should be paid rates iixed by the Factories and Shops and Offices Acts.

The effect .of the workers' claims for an annual holiday, said Mr. Mountjoy, would be that retail establishments would not be able to meet the requirements of the public. To restrict the number of juniors would, in the long run, restrict the number of journeywomen, and the employers were now experiencing difficulty in obtaining joumeywonien.