FEDERATION OF LABOUR

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26986, 11 March 1953, Page 5

FEDERATION OF LABOUR

REMITS TO ANNUAL CONFERENCE BIGGEST GROUP DEALS WITH COST OF LIVING (From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, March 10. The cost of living is the main subject covered by 49 remits which will be considered by delegates to the sixteenth annual conference of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, which will open at Wellington on April 14. Eleven remits call for higher wages; although unions are not unanimous on the method to be adopted. The next most numerous group of remits concerns the internal constitution of the federation’s highest body, the national executive. Two of the largest unions within the federation obviously are not satisfied with the present constitution. They are the Engineers’ Union, with 16,019 members and the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, with 14,120 members. The A.S.R.S. has nominated a “ticket” for the election of the national executive, and the Engineers’ Union has recently been considering disaffiliation from the federation.

Other matters dealt with in remits include the 40-hour week, profit sharing, taxation exemptions, and social security bonuses.

The A.S.R.S. has three remits on wage questions. It suggests that the present wage structure be stabilised and the basic wage set at £l2 a week. It urges the federation to make a statement on what steps it proposes to take to obtain an adequate wage rate. It also declares its support for automatic quarterly cost of living adjustments. In this it finds support from the Engineers’ Union, which urges the federation to consider pressing the Government to introduce legislation enabling an automatic increase in wages after an increase in the price index. The Engineers’ Union, in urging that there be an adequate living wage for the lowest paid workers, recommends application to the Arbitration Court for a new standard wage order providing £lO a week for adult unskilled workers, with a 12£ per cent, margin for adult semi-skilled workers, and 25 per cent, for adult skilled workers. The Labourers’ Federation, with 6202 members, urges the federation, however, to refrain from approaches to the Arbitration Court in present circumstances. A remit from this union says: “We believe the regulations are prejudicially framed against us.” In a further remit the Labourers’ Federation alleges that the present method of adjusting the workers’ share of production is not equitable. The United Mine Workers and the Taranaki District Council agree that the federation should make another application to the Court for a general wage increase. Proposals on Constitution changes in the constitution cover objections mainly to the present form of the national council, and particularly to the fact that most of the council members must be resident in Wellington. Objections on the latter score come from Canterbury, Auckland. Otago, and Southland. Amend • ments also are suggested to the present voting system at conferences. Remits dealing with proposed amendments to legislation are not numerous. One, from the A.S.R.S., suggests an amendment to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act on the ground that, as at present constituted, the Arbitration Court is rapidly outliving its usefulness. There are few references to the Labour Party in remits. The Engineers’ Union considers that the Labour Party should be congratulated on its achievements, and that the federation pledge itself for a return to power of the Labour Government within the' shortest possible time. The Engineers’ Union proposes that 50 per cent, of the seats on the national executive of the Labour Party should by right be allotted to industrial affiliations. Taxation remits deal mainly with exemptions for income tax. It is proposed that the personal exemption should be £4OO, the wife’s exemption £l5O, and the child’s exemption £75. Both the Canterbury District Council and the Clerical Workers’ Union object to the principle of bonus payment to social security beneficiaries. The Taranaki District Council suggests that the conference should reaffirm adherence to the 40-hour week principle. Alleged victimisation of deregistered waterside workers is raised by the A.S.R.S. and the Taranaki District Council.

One interesting remit from the Engineers’ Union is that once a worker has done 40 hours he be prohibited from taking another job unless penal rates are paid.