CLERICAL WORKERS' UNION

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21970, 19 December 1936, Page 20

CLERICAL WORKERS' UNION

TO THE EDITOB 0» THE PRESS. Sir,—l understood from a recent reply to one of your correspondents that the clerical workers' award would be coming before the court on December 9 or 10, but apparently it has not yet done so. I am merely one of the thousands of clerical workers who are anxious that something should be done to make their working conditions better. At present we are entirely at the mercy of individual employers. Although a shorthand-typist with 12 years' experience, my salary is barely enough for the urgent necessaries of life, my employer being unwilling to give me a promised increase of salary owing to the fact that under the recent awards he has to pay more for his men and boys in the workshop. As everyone is aware, the recent legislation has increased the cost of living to a very considera' le extent. The rent of my room has gone up by 2s 6d a week, and every meal I have costs an additional 3d on the cost of meals six months ago, not to speak of a slight increase on everything else. As regards overtime, I work approximately six or seven hours' overtime in every week without receiving any overtime pay. Perhaps when the clerical workers' union L satisfactorily finalised, there will be officials whose business it will be to see that all workers are paid for overtime in addition to receiving a reasonable living salary. At . I, as well as many others amonest your readers, will be interested to learn something of the progress of this clerical workers' union, and to know how I soon we are likely to derive some benefit therefrom.—Yours, etc., JUSTICE. December 17, 1936. [When this letter was referred to Mr J. S. Barnelt, he said that the Conciliation Commissioner had been unable to hear the dispute in December, and it would now be held on January 12. "Postponement of the Conciliation Council has not prejudiced the case for the clerical workers of Canterbury," he said, "because the Arbitration Court is not likely to sit in this district until March. There may be some advantage in the postponement of conciliation proceedings. It is almost certain that the case for the clerical workers in Wellington will have been determined before proceedI ings in conciliation are held here. The Wellington award vill probably, in many cases, determine the wages and conditions for clerks in Canterbury. As for the amount of overtime your correspondent claims to have done without pay, she should bring her case under the notice of the Labour Department."!