TRAMWAYS AWARD.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20016, 26 August 1930, Page 8

TRAMWAYS AWARD.

♦ —- NEW CLAIMS BY UNION. PARTIES FAIL TO AGREE. CONCILIATION PROCEEDINGS ADJOURNED. After a sitting ivliich lasted for about four hours, the Conciliation Council Bet up to deal with the claims for a new award by the Christchurcli Tramway Employees' Union adjourned yesterday afternoon until this morning, no agreement on any important clause having been reached. Mr W. H. Hagger, Conciliation Commissioner, presided. The Board's assessors were Messrs "VV. Haytvard (chairman), J. Wood, and Frank Thompson (general manager), while the Union was represented by Messrs J. Mathison (president), J. H Foster, and E. Snow (secretary). The Union claimed the following minimum rates of wages: Conductors, first three months, Is 9Jd per hour, next nine months, Is lOjd; thereafter U Hid; motormcn, first ycai, Hid; thereafter, 2s Okl; men employed on trolley-buses, omnibuses, or oneman cars, '2d per hour extra. lb asked tliat a minimum <1 4o hours' work (should be provided each t o ;r, with not less than c, g W li«m on every week-day worked, ir tivc of any call forward or call back dutv- provided that when the \\cck* vork 4 included a Sunday, Christnidb Day or Good Friday, a minimum of X lioura' work should be provided on each of those days, reducing the houil to bo worked per week accordinolv Men should be entitled to alternate Sundays off duty, except when through «Mt */mm. , "ffSSSi traffic, or other a . could not be run. . In that. even , men mi"ht bo required to woik on one additional Sunday in each >ear , Provided also that when the regular rotation of duty so required mei might bo required to * ork on Sundays in succession, but I to each such occasion they should be alUrocd off duty two other .Sunday m sue cession.

Day Off for Sunda-y Work. Whenever a man was rc^ irc ''-J work on a Sunday, ho should bo allowed one week-day off in lieu thereof, if the exigencies of the service so p mitted. If, however, he to work on such week-day, he sHouia be paid at the rate of time and a half up to eight hours, and thereafter at double time rat as. When a hne weather time-table was being run on anv line, all men reporting for fine weather work for which they had been , vostered should be paid for a minimum of two hours' work if thej weie required for such work. A. straight shift should bo one which the work was continuous. aud unbroken for a period of six houis, and a broken shift should be one in which the break took place before the expiration of six hours work. All loroken shifts should be * completed within ten hours, except on the day ot the late shopping flight, and on statutory and public/Holidays, when they should not exceed , eleven, but thi3 .siiould not prevent men being employed over a longer period at overtime rates, provided the actual tniie worked did not exceed ten hours. Men should not be signed off for less than an hour. . ' A meal relief of not less/than 2o or more than 30 minutes shduld bo given, in every case before five hours' work had been completed; A mess-room, -where boiling water and lookers were available, should he provided within two minutes' walking distance of the Square. All work done in excess of eight hours in any day should be deemed to bo overtime, and should be paid for at the rate of time and a half for the first two hours and thereafter double time. All work done on Sundays. Christmas Day, Anzac Day, and Good Friday should bo paid for at double time rates.

When the time between the completion of one day's work nnd the starting of another was less than ten hours, doable time rates should be paid for nil work done until the expiration of the ten hours. ,

Holidays at the f\ill ordinary rates of pay "should bo given to the employees as follows: Conductors, after one year's service, ten days; thereafter, twelve days every nine months; motormen and omnibus and trolley-bus drivers,, twelve days every nine months. New conditions in regard to the <j|>inplaints were proposed. I . Permanent Way Men. In the .permanent way employees' section, the minimum rates of wages were sought : Permanent way ai'r tampers, 2s 2sd per "hour; track cleaners, Is lljd; permanent Way labourers, 2s; motor waggon and tractor drivers, 2s 2id; men in charge of nfeuchatel, 2s 3d; men on bitumen and hot-mix plants, 2;s • 3d; men on rail grinders (night), 2s 3jd, (day), 2s 2£d; men on electric car grinder (night), 2s 3Jd; (day), 2s 2Jd, Forty-four hours should constitute-a i week's work, and all time worked in excess of the hours for each daj should be paid for at the rate of time and a half for the first two hours an<f thereafter at double time rates. Work on Sundays, Anzac Day, Christmas Day, and Good Friday should be paid for at double time rates; and permanent way employees with one year's continuous service should be allowed fourteen days' holiday in each year at the full ordinary rate of pay. For the overhead and power-house section the union claimed the following minimum hourly rates: —Firemen and greasers, 2s; ovorhead linesmen, 2s 3d; assistant, linesmen, 2s; emergency linesmen, 2s 3d. Other clauses were similar to those in the claims for the permanentway employees' section. For the carshed sections the hourly wage rates sought were as follows: Car adjusters, car examiners, and axlebox packers (day) 2s OJd, (night) 2s pitmen (day) Is (night) 2b car cleaners (day) Is 11 jd. (night) 2s Ojd; carshed labourers, Is A 44-hour week was claimed, with overtime and holidays on the same basis as in the other sections. General clauses provided that it be a condition of employment of all employees that they join the Tramway Employees' Union within one month of their joining the service, but no inspector or other officer of the undertaking should be eligible. A special committee, with an independent chairman, should be set up to deal with disputes. All employees covered by the award should be allowed to travel free at all times on the trams, omnibuses, and trolley-buses. Not less than eight hours' notice of termination of -employment should be given on either side, and the employers should give fourteen days' notice of holidays, with holiday pay in advance on application. The term proposed for the award was one year.

Existing Award. The following aro tho minimum rates of pay in the traffic section under the present award:—Conductors, first threa months Is Bid, next 21 months Is Old, third and following years Is 10id; motormen, first • and second years Is third and following years Is llid; employed on one-man cars (additional), 2d; employed on buses, 2s o£d. Hours of work are a minimum of 9G a fortnight, and not less than eight on every week-day worked. Men are entitled to alternate Sundays off duty, with the exceptions mentioned in the union's 'claims, but when an employee is required to work on a week-day in lieu of the Sunday off, he is paid at the rate of timo and a half. No provision is made for the payment of men reporting for fine-weather work and not required. Overtime is paid for at the rate of time and a half for the first •three hours, and thereafter double time, and work on Sundays, Christmas Day, Anzac Day, and Good Friday is for at double-time rates. Annual holidays are not so liberal in this and following sections as those claimed by the union.

Permanent-way air tampers are paid 2s per hour, track cleaners Is 104 d, permanent-way labourers Is lid, and motor-waggon drivers Is 10Jd. In the overhead and power-house section, firemen and greasers ale paid Is overhead linesmen 2s, assistant linesmen Is IOJd, and emergency linesmen 2s. In the carshed sections car adjusters and examiners (day) are paid Is lljd, (night) 2b 03d, pitmen (day) Is 10} d, (night) Is ear-cleaners (day) Is IOJd, (night) Is IOJd, and carshed labourers Is lOfd. Board's Counter-Proposals. Counter-proposals by the employers included the following minimum rates of wages in tho traffic section: —Conductors, first three montliß Is Bd, next 21 months Is 9d, third and following years Is lOd; motormen, first and second years Is lOd, third and following years Is 11(1; employed on one-man cars and petrol or trolley-buses "s. They claimed that the hours of work should be not less than 96 per fortnight, with not less than seven hours on every week-day worked. Overtime rates to be paid for any time worked in excess of nine hours on any one week-day. Any time Avorked in excess of 90 hours per fortnight should be paid for at overtime rates, provided that such fortnightly overtime had not already been paid as daily overtime. If an employee was required to work on a weekday given off in lieu of Sunday, he should be paid at the rate of time and a half. If an employee's day off was cancelled owing to the sickness of another employee, the work done should be paid for at ordinary rates. A straight shift should be one in which,the dav's work was continuous and unbroken, except by meal relief, and a broken shift one in which the day's work was done in two or moro periods of time.

Overtime rates paid for work done in excess of nine hours per day, should be time and a half. No pay should be given to any employee for time spent in attending solicitors' offices or Courts of law in proceedings relative to accidents in cases where, in the opinion of a Court or the Board, the accidents had been caused or partly caused by the negligence of the employee. Reduction in Wages. In tho permanent way section the Board offered Is IOAd per hour for labourers, with an additional 2Jd for men operating air-tamping machines; an additional l-}d when men wcro employed as spikcrs, platelayers, jointment or bondsmen; an additional. ljd to be paid men when firing furnaces, firing or filling bitumen boilers or kettles, measuring or niixipg the prepared hot materials used in. bitumen work, and acting as noazlemen on bitumen spraying plants; an additional Id to "bo paid men operating crtine grabs, tractors, or motor-lorries hauling permanont way material, an additional $d for placing bitumen, asphalt, or wet concrete; men cleaning tracks by hand and nightwatchmen to be paid la lOd per hour; men operating rail grinders to be paid 2s Id per hour; men driving motorlorries for general delivery purposes, to be paid Is lOd per hour. All time worked on any one day or shift in excess of ordinary time, should be paid for at timo and a half ratos, and all time worked on Suudays should be paid for at ordinary rates. For firemen and greasers the employers offered Is lOd per hour, overhead linesmen Is lljd,, assistant linesmen Is lOd, and emergency linesmen Is Hid; car adjusters and examiners (day) Is IOJd, (night) Is lljd. pitmen (day) Ih 9Jd, (night) 3s IOJd, car cleaners (day) Is 9Jd, (night) Is 10*3, carshed labourers Is ]o}d. Annual Holidays. Many of the clauses in the existing award were submitted in the Board's claims, but annual holidays in all sections except traffic, were covered by the following proposal: —After one year's service, 8 days; two years, 9 days; three years, 10 days; four years, 11 days;-five years; 12 days; and six years, 13 days. In reply to Mr Hagger, for the Union's assessors, Mr Snow said that they bad no statement to make, and the conference might proceed immediately to a discussion of tho claims. Mr Hayward said his colleagues and he considered that some statement should be made. "Wo feel the wages question is subservient, in a manner, to the other conditions," he said. "We find that these times are entirely different from thoso prevailing when the conditions were inserted in the award. We must have relief in some way. Perhaps our greatest trouble is the double timo on Sundayß. When this concession was granted times were good, and the trams were showing a surplus, but now times are not good, and Sunday traffic has suffered' the worst, no doubt due to tho serious inroads made by motorcars. At present Sunday traffic showed a loss. Double time did not exist in awards covering industries in which Sunday work was a necessity. Sunday was not oven mentioned in the ships' stewards' award, and that governing the conditions of work for service-car drivers. "Wo feel very definitely that double time should not have existed," said Mr Hayward, "and it should not bo continued. . As well as that, we want moro flexibility." The Board was paying £BOOO a year in overtime, and the union asserted that it was against it. It wanted a minimum of seven hours per day, and overtime payable after nine hours' work, with a view to employing more men eventually. "Double time on Sunday cannot go on," said Mr Hayward. "If it does the Board will have to get relief by cutting out the Sunday service. We do hope that the gentlemen on the other side will. consider that we are up against unfortunate times. We must meet things as we find them." The Board had hundreds of applications for employment, and all of the men making them knew they had to work on Sundays. A Thankless Task. "There is not one of us who would be in this job if he could get out of it," said Mr Hayward. "The assessors of both sides are here because they have been asked to represent. their organisations."' The Board's assessors were suggesting time and a - half on Sundays, although they had a perfect right to suggest ordinary tiriic. Mr Snow said there was no possibility of the Union agreeing to either of

the suggestions made. Mr Hayward was in error about Sunday work, as it was given special recognition in the Seamen's Award, and in the transport industry. When double time was conceded the Board's representatives said the finances were just as bad as they claimed they were rtow. The award allowed riiore elasticity than any other in force in New Zealand. Mr Hagger said perhaps other concessions could be made which would help to compensate -the Board. It was better to take that lino than to stand or fall by the 0110 claim. Mr Thompson said the Board was offering to guarantee overtime pay for all work in excess of 96 hours a fortnight. A tramway concern could not run under factory rules, and the trams could not stop when a whistle blew. Overtime was a deterrent against long hours, but in the case of the trams it was unavoidable. In reply to Mr Snow, Mr Hayward said the reduction of tho minimum number of hours to seven a day would allow of the employment of more men. Mr Mathison said tramway work imposed a heavy strain on employees, and a lengthening of the day accentuated it. Ho said Mr Thompson did not want to cut out tho overtime, but only the extra payment for it. Mr Snow said there were very few shifts which exceeded eight hours per day. If a man worked over eight hours, he was entitled to additional payment for it. "You have the right to take from liim his Sunday, and rob him of Ms right of attending at h's place of religious worship," said Mr Snow. No Hope of Agreement. Mr Hayward said there had been two or three conferences already, and he saw no hope of an agreement on the points under discussion. Mr Snow said complete agreements had been reached in other centres, and a satisfactory clause framed to cover Sunday work. Mr Hayward said perhaps the same sense of responsibility to the public did not exist in these towns. The Conciliation Commissioner said that the Board's assessors would find that tliey were offside with the Arbitration Court unless they could reach an agreement with the other side on tho counter-claims. Mr Thompson said that under special legislation the Board was exempt from Arbitration Court awards altogether, and it might have to raise that point.

Mr Mathison said the union had been offered the present award a few weeks ago at the first conference. Mr Hayward: Subject to certain alterations.

Mr Mathison: I beg to differ. Mr Snow: We wero offered the old award in toto.

Mr Hayward: What you say may be right, but I have no recollection of it. It would be only a farce for us to go on discussing the. claims if an agreement cannot bo reached on the payment for Sunday work.

Mr Hagger: Shall we try to run through the old award to see what wc can do ?

Tn further discussion, Mr Thompson said that the cost of living in Christcliurch had fallen 6 per cent, since the award was filed. It had fallen more in Christcliurch than in any other centre. Mr Matliison said that might be the case, but it was due to temporary tradewars, and the position was not stabilised. Abolition of Double Time. Mr Snow said they might as well go homo if tho conference depended on t.t> agreement on the abolition of double time. Mr Thompson: If you were prepared to concedo one of our claims, the abolition of double time or tho 98-hour fortnight, which would it be? Mr Snow: Neither. Mr Thompson: No compromise. , Mr Snow, said the union considered that there was too much flexibility in .the present award. The Board wantod them to carry the baby of hard times. Mr Hay ward: Oh, no, only your share. Mr Snow: Well, what proportion of the burden are the officials and the staff carrying? Mr Hayward: I did not think you would raise that. They are called upon to work overtimo without any. payment whatever. Mr Snow said tho union wanted the conditions of work tightened up, instead of loosened. Working for the Tramway Board should bo tho best job in Christcliurch. Mr Wood: It is. Mr Hayward said high wages were paid in Australia, yet it was heading foi the Bankruptcy Court. Mr Snow: Yes, over there they give a manager moro in one increase than they take off the whole of the employees in a concern. After some time spent in this fashion, Mr Hayward said: "Well, there is a lot of hot air, but are we getting anywhere?"

Mr Hagger: W© have not mad© a start yet. Subsequently Mr Snow contended that an employeo should not have to ring up and ascertain whether ho was required to go on shift. Mr Hay ward: Why shouldn't he? It is his work, and if lie cannot do that, surety lie should not have it. Mr Mathison said that through a peniiy-in-tlie-slot telephone being out of order, he had been forced to travel right in to the Square. He had there asked an inspector if he was wanted, and had been told to stand by and wait, but when Ro asked that ho be signed on this was emphatically refused. Small Progress. Very little progress was mad® at the afternoon sitting,, discussion centring round the first few clauses in the claim.

At 3.45 p.m., Mr Hayward said the Board's representatives were required at a meeting of the Board at 4 p.m. "Do you think. it is of any use our coming back?" he, asked. "If it was Tuesday we could stay here all day.*' Mr Snow: Wo may be able to agree on some of the clauses in sections other than that covering traffic. Mr Hagger: I have seen sittings with the outlook apparently as hopeless as this, when a complete agreement has been reached in the last halfliour.

Mr Thompson: One side gives way by physical exhaustion, I suppose. Mr Hayward: Very well, then, we can resume to-morrow morning. The sitting was then adjourned until 9.30 this, morning.