ADJOURNED TILL MARCH

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21989, 13 January 1937, Page 5

ADJOURNED TILL MARCH

—♦ CLERICAL WORKERS' 5 DISPUTE DEMANDS AND COUNTER ; PROPOSALS After agreement on only a few of the minor clauses, the Canterbury clerical workers' dispute was ad- •■ journed yesterday till Tuesday, March 2. it was expected that the Otago s Clerical Workers' Award would have ' been made by that time. The employees' assessors were Mrs Brough and Messrs G. Manning, J. S.' Barnett, and H. McD. Lamb. The employers' assessors were Messrs A. A. Austin, W. E. Rogers, W. Machin, H. : E. Otley, and D. I. Macdonald.The applicants were the Christchurch Clerks,' Cashiers,' and Office Employees' Industrial Union of Workers, and the respondents the Canterbury Employers' Association and others. The schedule of respondents filled 14 typed sheets, and was said to be incomplete. A committee comprising Messrs Macdonald, Manning, ■ Barnett, and the commissioner, Mr S. 1 Rtichie, was appointed to go over the 1 list. < Employees' Claims The employees' detailed statement of claims included the following:— HOURS OF WORK Claim: The hours of work shall be 38 per week, to be worked in five days, between the hours of 8.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Counter-proposal: (a) The hours of work, except as hereinafter provided, shall be 44 per week, and may be worked between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. on five days of the week, and between 8 a.m. and 12 noon on Saturdays; provided that clerical workers employed in retail shops may be employed the same hours as shop assistants. (b) In establishments where, a greater number of hours than 44 is permitted by law to be worked, the hours of employment prescribed in sub-clause (a) hereof may be exceeded, provided the total hours shall not, in any case, exceed 48 in the week except as provided in sub-clause (c) hereof, (c) In the case of clerical workers employed by woolbrokers or woolbuyers, grain and seed merchants, fluur and oatmeal millers, fruit and produce brokers, or any seasonal trade, or trade excepted by sub-section (1) of Section 46 of the Shops and Offices Amendment Act, 1936, the hours of employment may be varied to suit the requirements of the industry, provided such hours shall not average more than 48 per week in any year, (d) In the case of clerical workers employed in factories, or in any industry in which the hours of employment have been reduced below 44 by legislation, or by an Order of the Court of Arbitration, the hours of employment shall not exceed by.more than half an hour daily those so fixed for workers in such factories, or employed in any such industry, without payment of overtime, provided that this shall not prevent the employment of any worker covered by this award for five hours on Saturday at ordinary rates of pay. (e) Not less than threequarters of an hour shall be allowed for lunch. WAGES Claim: The minimum rate of pay for males shall' be'as follows:—First six months £1 (females £1). second six months £1 5s (females £1 ss), second, year £1 15s (females £1 15s), third year £2 5s (females" £2 ss), fourth year £3 (females £3), fifth year £3 15s (females £3 10s), sixth year £4 5s . (females £4), seventh, year £4 15s, eighth year £5 ss, ninth year £6, tenth year £6 10s. or basic wage, whichever is the higher. Should any worker be in receipt of a higher salary than is provided for in the schedule, of this award, it shall not be reduced. Workers over the age of 19 years, entering an office without previous experience, shall be paid as if commencing the third year and shall, thereafter, be paid according to the above schedule. Workers over the age of 25 years with not less than five years' office experience shall receive a minimum of £5 per week. Counter proposal: The following shall be the minimum rates of wages for female and junior male workers:— First six months of service, 15s a week; second six months of service, 19s a week; third six months of service. 23s a week; fourth six months of service, 27s a week; fifth six months of service, 31s a week; sixth six months of service, 35s a week: fourth year, 40s; a week; thereafter, 45s a week. Male clerks shall be paid the rates set out in the preceding sub-clause up to and including the fourth year of service, and thereafter in accordance with the following scale:—Fifth year of service, £2 10s a week; sixth year of service £3 a week, seventh year of service £3 10s a week, eighth year of service £4 a week, thereafter £4 10s a week (subject to the court's order regarding the basic wage). OVERTIME Claim: (a) AH time worked in excess of the hours provided in ... . (the hours' clause) shall be paid 50 per cent, increase on the ordinary rates, but the minimum rate for overtime shall be Is 6d an hour, (b) A worker called upon to work overtime in excess of one and a half hour,s in any one day shall be paid Is 6d tea money. Counter proposal: Any time worked in excess of nine hours on the first four days of the week or 10 hours on Friday, or five hours on Saturday, provided the total weekly hours are not exceeded, shall be paid for at the rate of time and a half, with a minimum payment of Is 6d an hour. Workers employed on overtime after 6 p.m. shall be allowed Is 6d for a meal, provided they cannot get home for a meal in the time allowed. Nothing contained in this clause shall apply to workers employed in any of the businesses enumerated in the proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 46 of the Shops and Offices Act 1921-22 as amended by Section 16 of the Shops and Offices Amendment Act, 1936. HOLIDAYS Claim: The following holidays shall all be observed:—New Year's Day, January 2, Good Friday to the following Tuesday, both days inclusive. Sovereign's Birthday, Show Day. Labour Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and Anzac Day. Should any of the above holidays fall on a Sunday then, for the purpose of this award, such holidays . shall be observed on the following Monday. Workers required to work on such.holidays shall be paid at double fate for Christmas Day, Good Friday, Anzac Day, and Sundays, and at time and a half rates for any other holidays mentioned in , . . (the first sentence of this section). One holiday of two weeks on full pay shall be granted to each worker on completion of each year's service, and at a time to be mutually arranged between the employer and the worker. Counter proposal: The holidays prescribed in the Shops and Offices Act, 1921-22, and its amendments, or the Factories Act, 1921-22, and its amendments, as the case may be, shall be the holidays to be observed for the purpose of this award. Each employer shall, in addition to the statutory holiday set out in the Shops and Offices Act, 1921-22, and its amendments, or the Factories Act, 1921-22, and its amendments, as the case may be, be entitled to an annual holiday of one week on completion of each year of continuous service. Such holiday to be taken at a time suitable to the employer. ' ' " \ PROPORTION Claim: There shall be not more than one junior worker, i.e., worker under the age of 21 years, to every four seniors, .

Clauses Agreed On Not all the clauses were discussed yesterday, but provisional agreement was reached on some of them. For overtime, the employees' first sentence in their, claim was agreed upon, but the wording was changed to "... shall be paid at the rate of time and a half, but the minimum . . .". The employers' second proposal in this section was also agreed to. There was a compromise in a clause determining the workers to be covered by the award, and finally the clause read: "None of the provisions of this award shall apply to any male worker who is in receipt of not less than the equivalent of £350 per annum, or in the case of a |emale worker, £4 !a week." Mr Macdonald said that he was very much opposed to the employees' proportion claim. He thought: that three juniors to'one senior would be suitable, although thecourt in Wellington had allowed only two juniors to one senior.