BAKERS' DRIVERS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20905, 12 July 1933, Page 6

BAKERS' DRIVERS.

DISPUTE IN CONCILIATION COUNCIL. HEARING ADJOURNED. An industrial dispute between the Canterbury Bakers' Drivers' Union and the Canterbury Master Bakers' and Pastrycooks' Industrial Union of Employers was heard by a Conciliation Council yesterday before the Conciliation Commissioner, Mr S. Ritchie. No agreements were reached, the whole day being given up to preliminary discussion, and at the end of the afternoon the council was adjourned until July 18. The assessors tor the employers were Messrs D. I. Macdonald, C. E. Boon, H. Taigel, P. Dunn, and L. A. Woodward. For the employees the assessors were Messrs 11. Parlane, H. Whittle, J. Cave, and G. T. Thurston. . , , Th<' emplovecs in their demands asked that the week's work should not exceed 48 hours, exclusive of the time necessary to attend to horses or motor-vehicles, the hours to be worked between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on five days of the week, and 7 a.m. and 12 30 p.m. on the weekly half-holiday. If a worker was required to work before or after these hours he should receive an extra Is an hour. The employers agreed to the 48-hour week, but asked that all overtime should be paid for at the rate of time and a quarter, and that the weekly half-hoilday should not begin until 1 p.m. Minimum Wage Demands. The employees asked for the following minimum wages:—Driver and attendant of one horse, £4 a week; driver and attendant of two horses, £4 3s a week; driver and attendant of a motor vehicle, £4 :ss; inspectors, £4 15s. The employers offered a minimum wage for all drivers of £3 12s 6d. ~,,,., The employees also claimed that all stable work and attention on motor vehicles done in excess of the hours specitled up to four hours a week in the case of single horse or motor-vehicle drivers and eight hours in the care of two-horse drivers should be paid for at the rate of Is 9d an hour, while the employers offered for all classes of drivers up to six hours a week the rate of Is f>|d an hour. Work done in excess of these hours, both sides agreed, should be paid for at overtime rates. 'The rales for youths employed as drivers asked by the employees were as follows, the er.vployers' offers being shown in parentheses: 16 to 17 years, £1 5s a week (£1); 17 to 18 years £1 12s fid '£l ss); 18 to 19 years, £2 2s 6d (£1 15s); 19 to 20 years, £2 10s (£2 ss); 20 to 21 years, £3 (£2 15s). For youths who are drivers, the employees asked Is 2d an hour for stable work. Proportion of Youths. The employees asked that the proportion of youths employed by each employer should not exceed one to each employer employing one fully paid driver, and one to each three fully paid drivers. The employers asked that the proportion should be one to each employer and one additional to each fully paid driver. Overtime at the rate of 2s 5d an hour for adults and Is 7d an hour for youths was asked by the employees, while the employers offered time and a quarter for all workers. The discussion on the claims and counter-claims quickly settled on the question of wages and hours of work, Mr Macdonald saying that the employers wanted a single wage for all classes of drivers, whether of horse or motor vehicles. After the luncheon adjournment, Mr Parlane suggested that if the employers would consider a 46-hour week the employees might consider accepting overtime after 10 hours instead of after nine hours, as was asked at present. On the question of wages for drivers, Mr Parlane claimed that there was no comparison between the amount of labour done by a baker's driver and a baker's labourer, who was paid only 4j per cent, less than that offered to the driver by the employers. The driver's job was far more onerous and responsible, since he was in some sort a salesman and had to come continually into contact with the customers. On the question of the proportion of youths employed, Mr Parlane said he considered that the employees' claims were just. However, he was prepared to concede the employers' demands to the extent that more youths might be employed as drivers in special circumstances to be decided by a committee of employers and employees. Mr Parlane also stated that, provided satisfactory agreements were reached on the other points, the employees would probably agree to the overtime rates offered by the employers. After an adjournment, during which the employers' assessors conferred, Mr Macdonald said that the employers were willing to increase their adult wage offer by 2s 6d to £3 15s a week. They could not advance on their offer for youths' wages. The employers had also considered Mr Parlarie's suggestion for a 46-hour week, but had felt they could not depart from the 48-hour week. At this stage the council was adjourned until July 18 in order to allow both sides to confer with their principals.