STANDARD RATES OF WAGES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22678, 5 April 1939, Page 6

STANDARD RATES OF WAGES

COURT AND CONCILIATION COUNCILS STATEMENT BY WORKERS’ ADVOCATE TTHB PRESS Special Service.! WELLINGTON, April 4, Strong exception to the statement made by Mr B. C. Jacobs, of the New Zealand Master Printers' Federation, was taken by Mr P. M. Butler in replying to-day on behalf of the Builders’ and General Labourers’ Federation. In a statement published on Saturday, said Mr Butler, Mr Jacobs said: “Apart from other considerations, the question of wages was virtually removed from the jurisdiction of the council by the action of the workers’ representatives in disputes the hearing of which was begufi in the Arbitration Court on the same day as the printing trades’ council met. They asked the Court, as they were entitled to do, to review the 1937 pronouncement on standard rates of wages, and as the Conciliation Commissioner in the printing trades disputes observed, it was unreasonable" to suppose that any Conciliation Council would arrive at a decision on the question of wages till the Court had given its judgment in the test case." Mr Butler said it was obvious that Mr Jacobs was referring to, the builders’ and general labourers’ case, which was before the Court at the time the printers were in Conciliation Council. As advocate for the workers in the builders’ case before the Court, he had made it quite clear that there was no intention on the part of the workers. to make that case a test of the 1937 standard wage pronouncement. The employers, on the other hand, had attempted to make this an issue, with the apparent intention of confusing the Court. Workers’ Intentions

“We were not so stupid as to fall for this trap,” said Mr Butler, who quoted the following extracts from his statement to the Court to indicate the intentions of the workers;-r----“(1) Too long have we been the economic fulcrum, and we are tired of it. We are entitled to a definite place in society, and our wages should be based on the service we give. “(2) If such a state of affairs is allowed to continue (making labourers the base), then why bother with other awards? Why not just say: ‘The labourers will have so and so,’ and others will automatically be 'so and so’? ' '

“(3) We are not going to be sidetracked (in the matter of the standard wage). We are dealing with a specific thing, and we hope the Court will see through the transparent attempt indefinitely to tie us up with the unskilled rate.” “These extracts should show," said Mr Butler, “that we were wise to the tactics of the employers. Yet Mr Jacobs, in order to bolster up his case, returns to the attack. We know nothing of the printers’ dispute. We do not desire to comment on it, and we resent Mr Jacobs intruding into our case, which is at present with the Court. Our case is no excuse for him, or any other employer, not meeting their, own workers in a reasonable manner. There is nothing to prevent his making an effort to meet the printers. Mr Jacobs can take it from me that, thanks to legislative acts, we are no longer ‘base workers,’ and we intend to assert our rights. “If, notwithstanding the position given us by legislative enactments, the employers ignore the position .and challenge industrial peace by attempting to resort to the old order, and thus hold up settlements in conciliation, then it is imperative - that the Government should step in at once and clear up the position,” Mr Butler said. ‘