The Labor Dispute.

Bush Advocate, Issue 352, 12 August 1890, Page 2

The Labor Dispute.

The dispute between -the , Maritime Council arid jVlessrs..|WhitQombeand Tombs., -is, 1 afc. „ present, attracting mucli' Attention' throughout , the colony, o^ing' to, the consequences which would probably ensue were thjO, Cpimcal to: order : ;the- several labor unions affiliated with it to go outjon strike, v .Our readers are not, .perhaps/ conversant with the points a'tiia'sitei'SO we take the liberty, -of .reprinting"' frbni the' il_ye'n"ing'I y 6st aril article" m'^ykich. tliey : are stated in connected form.' The article explains that ' Messrs ' AVbitcombo and Tombs 'Limited) aro a company 'carrying; oil' business jn Christohurch' 'as manufacturing stationers, bookbinders, ''.printers, and booksellers. "They" belong to the. Master Printers' Association, and do printing work according to tho Association scalo of charges. Early 'iii' Fo.ru ary last the Typo-graphical'-SoeiG_3 r ; presented to the MaitoiV Association ri' ' sot of pro•pbsals' relating 'to proportion of apprentices and rates of Wages. The Association declined to consider those' as a body, but recommended 'the Typographical Society to negotiate with the employers individually. •'! The new Society rules were accordingly sent to each employer, with the intimation that they would come into force on a date litimOd in March; Tlie master printers, Whitcombe and 'Tombs excepted, asked for a conference with the Typographical' Society, and this took place, tho result, being that certain .amendments' of the rates wore agreed to by tlie Socioty, and as amendod tivo rules were accepted by the masters. Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, however, refused absolutely to be bound by these rulus when informed of them, and intimated tips fact tq their employes. T'Uoy consented, however, to' receive a deputation from tho Society, and at this meeting the (question of employing .female compositors cropped up, Tho deputation sajd t.hey were not authorised tp deal .with 1 tho' question of recognising females as apprentice compositors, but thought that if tho linn would pledge itself to givo the girls ordinary apprentices' wagos,' and tho same pay as male journeymen when out •.<s jtjjoij. jLimo, .lj.o Sc|pi.e(;y-.mijrht bo induced to pernfit tl^gj.r '.cinp/uynu'id. i) iy? offhc priucipyl^ of ('lie lfj.rpj ; Uv U, J.oujbs, seemed to cgij-

sider this fair, but Mr Whitcombe emphatically refused to make any iuch bargain. No arrangement, 'therefore, was come to, and an offer to submit the dispute to arbitration was refused by the firm. About this time the Sweating Commission sat in Ohristchurch, and a good doal of tho evidence taken ..before it related to the., system .of work in Messrs Whitcombe and; Tombs' establishment, which certainly seemed of a peculiar character and quite unprecedented in New Zealand- It 'was given in evidence that- an. unusually large number of boyß<and girls were employed by the firm, and Mr Whitcombe, in his written evidence, contended that this was absolutely necessary in order to .enablo them to compete with English and Australian manufacturers and to get . a hold ou the local market. Tliey had, by the employment of such labour, been nblio ;to . get 'several largo contracts; ,f;or- work hitherto performed out of the colony. It was stated that a system of heavy fines existed in tlio workrooms. One; boy who; had been making 6s to 7s per week oil pie,co- work. stated;, he was. taken off it and put on wages at 5s per week, and expected to work overtime at jaight at ldper.houjy being, fined dd for every mistake. /.Two boys, for knocking down some implement in tho workroom, making a noise but doing, no <• damage, were find 10s each, 1 thfe Amount representing ,a week's wages to ono and a*, week and a half is to- -tlie ..other. There were no rules or scale of fines dis!played.in the workroom. The firm had' -contract for -embossing 20,000 - envelopes. The work took longer than was anticipated, and' they lost on the contract. This loss, £1 12s •2d, ithey charged * to ' the -* girl who had had the work to do. Her wages were £1 por weok. < The girl said she had been delayed by the being in bad order, and breaking down twice. Mr Whitcombe, in Ms evidencoj -said the machine was in good order, and implied that tho girl had not done her best, as subsequently she .embessed a lartrer number in a shorter time. No such' system of fining seemed. to be. known in other establishments. .Mr Whitcombe insisted that fines were necessary to preserve disciplino, 'and stated vthat for several years the total : bf fines inflicted had only amounted to £17 5s 3d. If a boy were abseut • from illness, even for an hour, his wages wore docked. Boys and men were, j fined, the same amounts,' irrespective of wliat' thqy , ; were earning. A boy was fined £1 13s for bad work in. ruling, but a jour-' h©3'_ian gave- evidence that' the fault was in tho bad ink supplied. •A bo} r who met with, a serious acci-j dent, through no fault of his own,' was refused re-employment , when, lie came out of tho Hospital. In a : case of anothor accident tho sufferer ; was charged for tho timo of another employe who wont for relief, and tho time of one who accompanied the sufferer to his ..homo or the Hospital was also deduotod. One witness stated that tho boys wore required to work eleven hours and * 40 minutes a day for a -period of; four .months, _. and many of them became ' ill. These were the statements given in evidence. Some \yero admitted and others coutra(lictctl. Mr Whitcombe stated that they gave the highest wages paid in the trade," and' that the girl compositors' were n great success. This evidence given before the Sweating Commission did not tend to smooth matters as between tho Typographical Society and the firm, 'jfn the'ineantimo a fresh difficulty had 1 arisen with tho bookbinders. The' firm, discovering that tho foreman of"' this department was a • member of the Union, gave him the option of resigning his membership or ■ his employment. He chose to resign 'tho latter. A" "similar option was given to the hands who wore .Unionists, and on their electing to adhere to tho Union thej'' wero given | a weelc 1 s notice. Tho Trades and Labour Council, being appealed to, interviewed the firm, and the latter j said .they would waive their objec- | tion to employing Union men. They, however, refused an offer .to submit* ' tho . wholo dispute to arbitration, saying there was nothing to arbitrate on. Tho bookbinders then,, by direction of tho 'Council, returned lo work. Tho members, of tho Typographical Society had in the meantime given a week's notice, owing to tlie firm's i objection to their being Unionists, but before the expiry of this term that objection was withdrawn. The firm, however, held the mon to thoir notice, saying* it was not because they belonged to the Union ■ but because trade was slack, but they promised that when there was work to do they should bo reemployed. The Society says they hare not fulfilled this promise, but have taken , on non-unionists. The Trade» and Labour Bouneil sought another interview with tho firm to complain of this, but were rof used an audience. The Maritime Coun-' cil next sought an interviow, but were also refused, the firm saying there was nothing in issue. A. good deal of correspondence thou took place between Mr Millar, Secretary of tho Maritime Council, and the firm, but tho only effect was to widen the breach. There was also soino newspaper correspondence, the result of all being that Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs baye c}eplg,re4 tfopir intention qj.' conducting' thoir establishment on non-union principles, and fighting the matter out, while the Maritime Council, on its part has threatened to boycott tho firm, and to bring about, a general strike if obstacles are placed iv the way of doing this complexly u]fcj eJ}opt)|al]y. gijcj} is a 'plain nnmipire of lhe facts of the 'dispute! '