THE BASIC WAGE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22345, 8 March 1938, Page 12

THE BASIC WAGE

NO EFFORT TO SEEK REVISION UNIONS AND EMPLOYERS NOT INTERESTED SIXTEEN MONTHS SINCE COURT MADE ORDER Neither employers' organisations nor trade union federations in the Dominion are evincing the least desire to move the Court of Arbitration to make a new general order fixing the basic wage for workers in industry, the basic wage issue now being looked upon as "dead" by both sides. The order fixing the basic rates at £3 16s weekly for adult male workers and £1 16s for adult female workers was made by the Court on November 2, 1936, at Wellington, after a mandatory instruction was given in the Industrial Arbitration and Amendment Act of that year. The case for both employers and workers was presented in evidence and argument to great length at the hearing by the Court, over which Mr Justice Page (who has died since) presided. The act provides: "Any general order may from time to time, at intervals of not less than six months in any case, be amended by a subsequent general order made by the Court, either on its own motion or on application made to the Court by any industrial union or industrial association." . .

"The unions are not interested in the basic wage, which is of no value to them, as in nearly all awards the wages of workers at the age of 21 years was above that of the basic rate," said Mr R. M. Macfarlane, secretary of the Canterbury Labour Representation Committee. In fact, the wages for those in the industries were considerably above the amount fixed under the Court's order, and the unions had no reason to be concerned with its alteration. "A Dead Letter" The Court's pronouncement of the basic wage had caused some agitation, said Mr Macfarlane, but this piece of legislation was now a "dead letter" with the unions, as the order was held not to apply to workers not covered by an award. Had the basic wage been introduced to apply to all workers, it-would have been a great protection for those not covered by awards; under its present scope it was of little value to the unions, most of which, before its introduction, ' had secured awards which gave, at the age of 21 years, higher wages than those fixed by the Court's general order. "The basic wage is of very little use, and I do not think any action will be taken by any group of employers to have the question reopened by the Court," said Mr D. I. Macdonald, secretary of the Canterbury Employers' Association, who, when the Court's decisior was announced 16 months ago, expressed the opinion that "the actual rates declared by the Court can be considered very satisfactory and are within a -shilling or two of the amount I expected." The fixing of the new basic rate was not mandatory, said Mr Macdonald, and he had heard of no move being made by any section of employers to seek another general order, which the Court would be required to pronounce and would fix a wage "sufficient to enable a man in receipt thereby to maintain a wife and three children °.i a fair and reasonable standard of comfort," after consideration had been given "to the general economic and financial conditions then affecting trade and industry in New Zealand, the cost of living, and any fluctuations in the cost of living since the last order, if any, was made." Classes Most Affected When it was fixed the basic wage principally affected shop assistants and clerical workers, who had previously worked under awards and conditions by which junior rates extended over a period of eight or nine years before the employees qualified for the senior rates of wages. Now the assistants or clerks on reaching the age of 21 years had to be paid a wage of £3 16s for males and £1 16s for females, whether or not they had had the experience which warranted the payment of those wages. The introduction of the basic wage might have been of more value to the trade unions had its effects included workers not covered by awards, said Mr Macdonald, and its present scope had not caused much concern. "I doubt whether there is enough interest in the, basic wage to cause an application for its revision to be made to the Court," he said. "And, in any case," the Employers' Associations find they have plenty of other work to do in the meantime."