BOROUGH COUNCIL LABOURERS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20907, 14 July 1933, Page 9

BOROUGH COUNCIL LABOURERS.

EMPLOYERS SEEK WAGE

REDUCTIONS.

CONCILIATION PROCEEDINGS

adjourned

Reductions in the minimum wage of borough council labourers from Is 8 7-10 d an hour to Is 3d an hour were sought by the representatives of a group of eight borough councils, in the Conciliation Council yesterday. They also proposed reductions in overtime rates and special work rates. Counter-proposals were filed by the Canterbury Builders' and General Labourers' Union on the lines of the old Borough Council . Labourers' Award. No agreement was reached, the proceedings being adjourned sine die. , The borough councils concerned were those of Akaroa, Ashburton, Kaiapoi, Lyttelton, New Brighton, Rangiora, Riccarton, and Sumner. The assessors for the councils were Messrs D. I. Macdonald, H. W. Harris, H. H. Barnard, and C. W. Tyler. For the employees they were Messrs H. W. Worrali, E. Hamilton, and J. T. W. Cole. The Conciliation Commissioner (Mr S. Ritchie) presided. The employers, the borough councils, asked that the hours of work should be eight hours a day on live days of the week, and four hours on the usual half-holiday, worked between 7.30 a.m. and 5 p.rri., and 7.30 a.m. and 12 noon. Men engaged on street-cleaning and channel and sanitary work should be allowed to begin and finish work as was considered necessary, provided they did not exceed the proper number of hours a day. The counter-claim filed by the employees agreed to these offers, except that it specified Saturday as the half-holiday. Wages Offered.

The employers offered a minimum wage rate of Is 3d an hour, with overtime at the rate of time and a quarter for the first four hours, and time and a half thereafter. The employees counter-claimed for a minimum rate of Is lid, less, 10 per cent., or Is 8 7-10 d an hour, and for overtime at the rate of time and a half for the first two hours and double time thereafter, with double time on Sundays. The employers sought to omit from the agreement the clauses in the old award relating to extra payment for work in wet and dirty places and for expenses in travelling to suburban or country work. A tentative agreement was quickly reached on the hours clause, the employees accepting'the employers' wording. The employers expressed willingness to concede overtime at the rate of time and a quarter for the first three hours instead of the first four, and the employees agreed to accept the clause. The employers also agreed to pay double time on Sundays, Good Friday, and Christmas Day, while the employees accepted time and a half instead of double time for the other holidays. Work in Wet Places. There was a good deal of discussion on the wet places clause, the employers proposing that local bodies | should be entitled to provide gumboots for men working in wet places or else 6d a day extra. Mr Worrall

claimed that the men should be provided with boots on all occasions and eventually Mr Macdonald offered to delete the proviso about 6d a day. Mr Worrall said that the employees' assessors would consider the. amended cI3US6 At the request of the employees the words "or insubordination" were added to the clause giving the employers power to dismiss for "misconduct or other good cause." "The boroughs do not agree to the inclusion of clauses covering suburban and country work," said Mr Macdonald, when the employees' counterproposals asking for the reinclusion of these clauses were under consideration. Mr MacSonald said that all the boroughs were small ones and the clauses were unnecessary. Mr Worrall suggested that the clauses might be reworded to apply specifically to work outside the borough. It was quite possible, he said, that circumstances might arise which would make such clauses desirable, but Mr Macdonald still claimed that they were unnecessary, although he said the employers' assessors Would consider the point. Wages Discussed in Committee. When the discussion reached the wages clause Mr Macdonald asked Mr 1 Worrall to agree that the subject should be dealt with in committee. There were certain facts relative to local body awards, the discussion Of which might facilitate an agreement | being reached, but which could not be made public. If these facts could be put before the council without being made public it might be easier to reach an agreement, if not to-day, then at a later stage. Mr Worrall: Oh no, we cannot agree to that. Mr Hamilton: In other words the local bodies' assessors will not put all their cards on the table. Mr Macdonald, however, pressed his request and after an adjournment of more than half an hour, during which they discussed the matter, the employees' assessors agreed to it. The council then went into committee. After a brief discussion, the council resumed, and a resolution was carried, moved by Mr Worrall, that the council should adjourn, sine die. The committee reported that the adjournment had been agreed to in .view of the fact that the combination of parties was not just on equal terms and in order to arrange, if possible, separate agreements for metropolitan and country groups.