GROCERY TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 127, 1 June 1938, Page 8

GROCERY TRADE.

ASSISTANTS' CLAIMS. FIVE-DAY WEEK ASKED. DISPUTE BEFORE COURT. I (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Preparatory to making the first Dominion award covering grocers' assistants, the Second' Court of Arbitration to-day commenced to hear arguments and evidence on behalf of the workers and employers. The award will apply to all the Dominion except Taranaki. Mr. F. D. Cornwall was the workers' advocate, and Mr. W. E. Anderson the employers' advocate. Mr. R. Barker appeared on behalf of Auckland, Gisborne and Nelson master grocers. Mr. Cornwall said the workers claimed a 40-hour week of five days, with work between 5.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., no work Saturdays and one meal hour each day between noon and 2 p.m. The workers claimed the following wages:—Assistants and drivers under 16 years, £1 2/6 to £1 7/6; between 16 and" 17 years, £1 10/6 to £1 15/; 17 to 21 years, £2 2/6 to £4 5/; 21 years and over, £•> 10/; provision hands, £6; department manager, £7; branch manager, £7 10/; first counter hand, £6; lorry drivers. £.5 15/. ree witnesses were called for the workers. Tt was submitted by Mr. Anderson that closing on Saturday mornings would allow unfair competition in grocery lines by other types of businesses that did not close on Saturday mornings. If there was no late night or Saturday morning a large amount of '•impulse buying" would be lost, never to be recovered, , The employers proposed a table of wages which Mr. Abderson said was already in wide use and which was simple to understand. It provided for a »'3«e of 15/ for boys commencing work under 1 5 years of ajre. rising to 85/ in the ninth year and 95/ thereafter; 17/6 for workers starting work at ages between 15 and 16, rising to 95/ in the ninth year; and similarly up to starting ages between 20 and 21. Workers starting at 21 and over would get 50/ in the first year, 85/ in the second and 95/ in the third and following years. Tliey offered £5 for branch managers or workers in charge of shops. Oiris in tobacco and delicatessen departments shoyld be excluded from the award, not being grocers* assistants.