CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16528, 21 May 1919, Page 5

CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

SHOP ASSISTANTS' DEMANDS.

A sitting of the Conciliation Council was held yesterday, tho Commissioner, Mr W. H. Hagger, presiding. ■ The dispute was one in which the Christ- - church retail shops' assistants in the Boot, Hardware, Stationery, Fancy Goods, Furniture, and Soft Goods Industrial Union of Workers put forward certain demands for an 1- award. o\er three hundred employers were cited. The assessors for the employees were Messrs It. D. Martin, Arnold Greenwood, and It. A. Bradbury. A large number of employers interested wore present. • The demands were in effect as follows: —Classification of workers —"Shop assistants shall bb classified as follows: Branch managers and inanageressess, departmental managers and manageresses, window dressers, travellers, seniors, juniors, apprentices, storemen and packers, clerks and cashiers (including males and females)." In the definition of the classes a "senior" was stated to be an employee) who had served five years as a shop assistant. An employer actively engaged in the management of his business should be classified as a senior. A "junior" was an employee who had served more than three and less than five years, and an apprentice was an employee who had sorved less than three years as a shop assistant. Clerks and cashiers were classified by length of service in the same manner

as seniors, juniors, and apprentices. A storeman packer was defined as an employee engaged solely or severally m packing or unpacking goods, or_ as a general cleaner or messenger m tho delivery of goods by hand. THE UNION'S DEMANDS.

The following wages were asked for: —Branch manager or manageress, £-< 1 .ss; departmental manager or manager- j ess, £7; window-dresser, £6 _ss; can- . vasser, £5; senior males, £5; senior ( females, £3 10s. Assistants sixteen j years and under ontcring _ tho trpcle I without previous experience—First j year, males and females, £1; socond j vear, males £1 7s 6d, females £1 ss: : third year, males £1 17s 6d, females £1 12s Gd; fourth year, it ales £2 los, females £2 2s 6d; fifth year, males £3 10s, females £2 IOs; after that (for seniors), males £4 10s, females £3 os. , Other wages—Head storoman or only storeman, £4 10s; storeman or packer, £4; storeman and packers seventeen years' and under £1 12s 6d, seventeen and undor eighteen £2, eighteen and I under nineteen £2 10s, nineteen and | under twenty £3 2s 6d, twenty and under twenty-one £3 12s 6d, after that £4. The wages asked for casual hands were 2s Gd per hour for males, 2s per hour for females, with minimums for. any dav or part thereof of 16s and 12s respectively. It was demanded that any female employed in selling or handling any of the following goods should be "paid tho wages prescribed for males: Men's and juvenile clothing, mercery, hats, hosierv, silks, velveteens, dress goods, Manchester, furnishing drapery, carpets, linoleums, bedding, cotton dress goods, prints, furniture, ironmongery, men's boots, household and general. . , , The hours of employment asked wero as follows: Seniors and any person receiving in excess of the senior wage, from 9 a.m. to noon or 1 p.m., and 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. on five days of the week, and from 9 till 12 noon on the weekly half-holiday; juniors, as seniors except that the commencing time should be 8.30 a.m.; apprentices, storemen, or packers, as for seniors and juniors, except that the commencement time should he 8 a.m. The union asked that no overtime or extended hours should be allowed on tho half-holiday. In the definitions of the clauses, a senior was stated to be an employee who had served five years'as a shop assistant. An employer actively engaged in the management of his business could be classified as a senior. A junior was an employee who had served more than three and less than five years, and an apprentice was an employee who had served less than three years as a shop assistant. Clerks and cashiers were classified by length of service in the same manner as seniors, juniors, and apprentices. A storoman or packer is defined as an employee engaged solely or severally in packing or unpacking goods, or as a general cleaner or messenger in tho delivery of goods by hand. Full holidays asked were: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, January 2nd, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Monday, Anniversary Day, Labour Day, Union Picnic Day, Prince of Wales's Birthday, King's Birthday, Anzac Day, and roace Celebration Day. The rate asked for work on Sundays, Christmas Dav, and Good Friday was double time, with time and a half for work on other holidays. Two weeks holiday on full pay was proposed for every year. The wage asked for lift attendants was £3 5s per week, and the union asked that the proportions of, employees should be not more than one apprentice lor junior to every three seniors. It was asked that employees reouired to work after 5.30 p.m. should be paid Is Gd tea money in addition to overtime, and that each employer should provide dining-room accommodation sufficient for all employees requiring the same in his establishment. Overtime was asked ut the rate of time and a half.

Other demands were: "It shall be the duty of each employer to provide a room furnished with suitable oouches and other necessary accommodation for the exclusive use of all female employees in his employ. Each employer ■who emp.ovs females shall have a femalo porter. In any establishment where an employer requires any employees to dress in any particular style or colour (black or white included), such garment not being the emplcvees' usual outdoor wearing garment, then such employer shall provide such garment free. In all shops where female assistants are employed, reasonable cloak and dressing-] oom facilities shall be provided for the use of each emplcyee. The counter proposals of the employers were the terms of the soft goods employees' award, the currency of which has now expi.ed. It was explained that these conditions were applicable to the new trades cited.

Mr R. D. .Martin, in response to a request of the Commissioner, detailed the steps he had taken to legally institute a dispute. The Employers' Association had been informed o'f the matter through Mr Braidhead. Mr F. Cooper said he had received a communication as secretary of the Drapers' Association, and had notified his Association.

\ F i Dra - vton said that so far as the hardware trade was concerned, there was no dispute. The employees had given. jia hicn pf wishioz to in-

stitute a dispute. They were apparently quite contented, and there seamed to be no desire to be associated with tho drapery or any other trade i Mr F. Cooper said be had asked the] ssbcrotarv of the union to furnish an affidavit as to the number of hardware assistants in the union. The Commissioner said he would be prepared to accept a statement from Mr Martin that he had a number ot members of each" of the trades citod ui the union. Mr Martin said that was the caseTh 3 union had satisfied the Registrar in 1917 of the fact, and there had been more inombcrs of tho union joined since. The Commissioner said the first point to be decided was whether there was! loagally a dispute at all. Ho agreed that all tho firms in tho .different branches had not been cited; this had been practically _ admitted. Mr Pannell said his Association, tho Bootmakers, had not been cited, and the Association had been placed under a distinct disadvantage. They had had no request for a conference. Mr Martin said that if a conference had been asked for and held, it would not have made the slightest difference to tho union's demands. It would liavo accepted nothing less from a conference. , Mr A. F. Drayton said he thought the wholesale and retail section of the hardware trade should bo considered together, and not put in with other unallied trades. The Commissioner said that if a dispute was admitted, all those questions could be discussed afterwards. Mr Drayton said his section of the trade was totally opposed to the proposals, and ho formally claimed that there was"no dispute in the trade. Mr E. Soper (booksellers and stationers), and Mr F. T. Paimell (boot trade), also claimed that there was no legal dispute with their trades. Mr Martin said that all the employers in these trades wero doing by their protest was to postpone tho matter for a few weeks. He appealed to the employers to waive the technical point, which meant that marricxl workers would have to go on receiving an entirely inadequate wage on which they could not properly support their families.

The Commissioner said the protesting employers would really gain very little by insisting on tho technical points. To throw out tho case would be easy, but it would only mean that it would be brought again in a short time by tho different trades being cited separately. Ho suggested that three official assessors should be appointed by the employers, and the other trades should bo represented by unofficial agents to watch their own particular agonts. Mr H. Froe suggested that the sitting should be adjourned, so that the assessors could have a discussion on the question. Tho Commissioner pointed out that there were assessors from Tiinaru. It might bo possible to hold a separate sitting in Timaru if the assessors agreed. Mr G. Dawson said that no demands of any kind had 'been made _to the Timaru employers, and he did not know, if he and his colleague agreed to waive the technical point, if the members of the trades would agree. He strongly held that South Canterbury should bo kopt i\s a separate district. The Commissioner said he had no power to say that South Canterbury should be a separate district. Mr H. Marriott supported the idea of having a separate district for South Canterbury. Mr Dawson said that the general opinion of the employers in Timaru was that they had no desire to be stacked on to a Christchurch union. If they had to have a union they wanted their own union.

The Commissioner said he was afraid that ho could not take Mr Dawson's statements in connexion with the opinions of employees. Mr Drayton, for the hardware trade, said that the employers wore absolutely opposed to being brought into a union and mixed up with other trades. Let the union bring in a separate dispute for the hardware section if a special union could not be formed. If the Commissioner ruled tho hardware dispute out, he would guarantee that a conference of employers and employees would be called in the trade, and a_ satisfactory agreement arrived at in a very short time.

After a little further discusion it was decided that the best method of procedure would be to have sectional discussions, each trade concerned conferring with the union representatives. The South Canterbury representatives formally lodged an objection on the ground that there was no dispute. The Commissioner stated that they had power to make a protest on any point they disagreed witn at the Arbitration Court sitting. At this stage the employers retired to confer Mr ""Willis (of McKenzie and Willis) applied for exemption on the ground that ne could not be governed by a shop assistants' award. His trade was chiefly furniture. r , , ~ It was pointed out that the furniture trade would be covered by the award. . Mr Sorensen's application for exemption was granted. . . , , Tha employers on retiring reported

that it had been decided take the , various sections as follows: —Soft goods at once; hardware, 10.30, May 20th; boots, 10.30, May 21sfc; and stationery at 2.30 p.m., on May 21st, The soft goods section was then proceeded. with, the assessors for the employers being Messrs H. V. Free, O. C. Cox, and F. Cooper. _ Mr Bates, glass and china merchant, objected to being cited as a hardware merchant, and the citation was altered accordingly. _ • Messrs Kineaid objected to being cited as fancy goods importers, on the ground that they did not deal in anything which other grocers did not also deal in, and no other grocers were cited. Mr Martin said that Kincaids hod a special hardware department upstairs. Xho Commissioner .decided that Kincaids was covercd by' the grocers' award. The objections of W. E. Simes and Gordon aiul Gotch to being cited were upheld. Consideration of the demands was then proceeded with._ The employers objected to the inclusion of branch managers, departmental managers, and window dressers, It was decided to alter thn classification of 'traveller" to "canvasser." A senior was deemed to bo an employee who had served six years, and a junior ono who had served more than four and loss than six. An apprentice was one who had served less than four years. v Clerks and cashiers were deleted. x The definition of storemen and packers was allowed to stand. Tho wages clause was held over. It was agreed that not less than seven days' notice of termination of engagement should be given by either party. Temporarv or casual hands to be paid at- tho rate of Is lOd per hour (males), and Is 2d per hour (females). An employee was deemed to be a casual if employed for less than a month. It was agreed that other casual workers be paid not loss than l-3rd more than award rates. In the clause dealing with the payment of wages, it was agreed that they should be paid weekly or fortnightly, and bonuses, premiums, and commissions, should bo paid in addition to tho weekly wages specified. Fiftv per cent, advance on wages was allowed to females employed in selling or handling men's and juvenile clothing, mercery, hats, silks, velveteens, dress goods', Manchester goods, furnishing drapery, carpets, and linoleums, bedding, cotton dress goods, prints, furniture, builders' ironmongery, and men's boots. No agreement was arrived at on tho hours clause, but it was decided that j nine days' special holidays should be I given annually, and that no assistant should be employed after 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The number of apprentices or juniors was fixed at not more thau ono to each senior. _ Twenty-four hours' notice was to be given to assistants required to work overtime; if less than twenty-four hours' notice was given—under exceptional circumstances —Is 6d tea money was to bo paid. Reasonable • cloak* and dining-rooms were to be provided where . female workers were employed. The fares of workers transferred from ono town to another arc to bo paid by the 'employer. The scope of the award was the' Canterbury industrial district. No conclusion was arrived at with regard to wages, holidays, and hours.