MUSTERERS AND SHEPHERDS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16215, 18 May 1918, Page 10

MUSTERERS AND SHEPHERDS.

WAGES AN3> WORKING

CONDITIONS.

Y (PEESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

WELLINGTON, May 17. I Tho conference of the New Zealand Agricultural and Pastoral Workers' Union decided to submit the following demands to the employers:— Wages of musterers, shepherds, and packers—Where musterers are engaged by the day, the wages shall be 17s (3d per day; when engaged by the week, or for a term of less than three months, the wages shall be not less than £4 los per week; where musterers are called upon to do snow-raking, the wages shall be 25s per day. Packers shall be paid 15s a day, or 70s per week. Shepherds engaged by the year shall be paid not less than £150 per annum; sli9pherds engaged by the week for a lesser term than three months shall be paid at therate of £4 los per week. Conditions—ln each case, food of good quality, together with adequate accommodation, shall be provided by the employers. Musterers' horses shall be kept shod and fed at the expense of the employer. The employer shall provide adequate sleeping huts .at each sunset camping place, and, in addition, there shall be fuel for cooking purposes supplied by the employer at cach camping hut. The employer shall provide water-tight oilcloth, or in some other way supply means to keep workers' clothes dry while in transit from camp to-camp. Jfusterers shall be paid the foregoing rates from tlje day they leave home until their return home, with travelling expenses added.