THE BACON-CURING INDUSTRY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21968, 17 December 1936, Page 4

THE BACON-CURING INDUSTRY

DISPUTE IN CONCILIATION ' COUNCIL

The wages to be paid in the baconcuring industry was the only section which caused much discussion at the Conciliation Council yesterday when the dispute in the industry was heard. Little argument was needed to fix the hours at 44 each week on five and a half days. It was decided also to start work each day at 7.30 a.m. and stop at 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and to work from 7.30 to noon on Saturdays. Overtime was fixed at time and a half for the first four hours, and thereafter double time. The wages demanded by the employees were head curer in charge £6 a week, head curer £5 7s 6d, slaughtermen, scalders, cutters-up, and rollers 2s 6d an hour, cellarmen 2s 5d an hour, lard makers, store-hands, and all other workers in the department 2s 4d an hour. The employers offered the following wages: Head curer £5 2s 6d, slaughtermen Is lljd an hour, and lard makers, store-hands, and all other workers Is lOd. Later these offers were increased to £5 ss, 2s 4£d, 2s lid, and 2s. These offers were considered by the employees, but the final agreement was held up by the wages offered to the lard-makers, store-hands, and other workers, the employees standing out for 2s Id an hour which the employers did not concede. In the end the employees agreed to accept the 2s an hour. The wages clauses will operate from January 1, 1937, and the other clauses from the date of the ratification of the award by the court and will last for one year. The employers' assessors were Messrs D. P. Garrick, A. C. Allen, and D. I. Macdonald, and the employees' assessors were Messrs F. McGill, G. Clark, and H. G. Kilpatrick. Mr S. Ritchie, Conciliation Commissioner, presided.