WAGES AND PRICES

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12306, 21 April 1937, Page 3

WAGES AND PRICES

WORKERS ON FARMS NEW GUARANTEED SCALE EXPLAINED INCREASES PREDICTED Dunedin, April 20 A statement that an increase in the guaranteed price for dairy produce, with a consequent increase in the wages of farm workers, would take place in about three months’ time, was made by the Hon. F. A\ r aite, M.L.C., at a meeting of the Otago provincial council of the Farmers’ Union. The new rate would probably operate from the beginning of the next export season. As a consequence, said Mr .AA’aite, farm workers’ wages would be advanced to £2 5s a week, with keep, from the present figure of £3 2s 6d. Referring to the negotiations of a sions of the Agricultural AVorkers’ other than those on dairy farms, Mr AA r aite said the Minister had power by regulation to extend the provisions if the Agricultural AA r orkers’ Act passed last session to apply to farms other than dairy farms, and it had been made perfectly plain that if an agreement commensurate with that Act were not arrived at then an award of the Arbitration Court would be made. "Representatives of the New Zealand AA'orkers’ Union at discussions asked tor the classification of all farm labour,” Mr AVaite added. “AVe would not agree to that, nor would we agree to a clause providing for preference to unionists, which, in reality, was compulsory unionism. In the fruit farm workers’ agreement there is a stipulation that when a man has been working tor four weeks he automatically becomes a member of the union and the employer has to deduct the union fees from his wages and forward them to the union headquarters. AVe objected to that. The new agreement was on all fours with the Agricultural AVorkers’ Act.”

Hours of labour were not prescribed, said Mr Waite, and IS days’ annual holiday was to be given at a time that suited to the employer, and the minimum wage was fixed at £2 2s 6d with keep, compared with an absolute minimum of £2 18s 6d without keep that could have been secured under an award of the Arbitration Court. This rate of £2 2s Gd, plus 17s Gd a week for keep, would come into operation in May, 1937, and would be revised on July 31, from which date the rate of wages would be £2 5s a week for a period of 12 months. Taking it all round, it was not so bad, as there was freedom of hours and no compulsory unionism. “In the event of there being a fall in the price of wool nexUyear, for instance, we have the right to ask for a reduction of these wages,’’ said Mr Waite. “Wages paid under the Agricultural Workers' Act are based on the guaranteed price, and if that goes up the wages of dairy farm workers have to go'un. We are told that the guaranteed price would go up, and, consequently, there will be a rise in the wages of workers on dairy farms. It is probable that that will also apply to workers on other types of farms. For the next three months wages will be at the present level, and when the guaranteed price goes up wages will follow.”