SHEARERS' DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 147, 16 March 1908, Page 2

SHEARERS' DISPUTE.

THE TERMS OF SETTLEMENT. The end «f the shearers' dispute is to Jjo roaohed to-day. The Arbitration Court this morning will bo asked by consent of both parties to convert into an .award the following recommendation of the Conciliation Board as filed by tho chairman (Mr. P. J. O'Regan) on Saturday:— INTERPRETATION.' ! 1. For tho purposes of this award, employer ' or " owner " includes tho manager or agoht of tho employor or owner. "Shearing means hand or machine shearing. ' RATES OF PAY. 2. Tho shearing rate shall not be less than 20s. Der. on© hundred sheep, with rations supplied. If rations are not supplied the rats shall not be less than 225. 6d. per hundred. The rate for shearing adults ranis shall be doublo the foregoing rates, and the rato for shearing stud sneep shall be mutually agreed upon.

, 3. At the commencement 'of the shearing the employer shall., lis a day on which his shearers shall .haVe the right to receive weekly progress payments, not exceeding 75 per centum.' <>f tho amount t<h'cn due. payment may be made to oach shearer, himself or to his order, and either by cheque, in each,'or byordor, and, if by, cheque .on any. bank of which there is do local branch, exchange shall be made: V Provided'tlia.t any choquo which the pajpee .requires to remit the placo on which it has.been drawn shall be deemed to bo % local cheque,; r 4. Subject to'previous payments,. and to any sum legally due the employer, air sheep shorn shall be paid_ for in full at tho end of ,tho -shearing; Provided that .a shearer or his administrator shall ho entitled to: and shall rccoivo payment in full on the termination of his employment' through' illness or death in 1 ' hi a family. • , HOURS OF, LABOTJB. '; . 5. Tho hours of labour shall in every caso bp subjcct to agreement between the 'employer and tho • shearers' representative. " Cut-outs n shall likewise ho tho subject of agreomcnt. •, . ACCOMMODATION, ETC. (1. With respcct to accommodation, the following provisions shall apply:— : (i| Tho employer '.snail provide ■ free grazing for one horse to each shearer. '(2) Tho employer shall provide a grindstone if ajid when' the same shall be ro(juirod. (3) When machines aro used, tho employer shall provide all machinery and oil, provided thai every shearer shall pay cost price for eqrabs and cuttors. ■ (4) Where rations aro provided, it shall •be the duty of tho; employer to provide a suflioiency of good-food .including butter • and jam, provided that oho and a quarter pounds per week shall bo and be deemed to bo a sufficient weekly allowance of butter for cach man. (5) The provisions of the last' preceding paragraph shall apply whether the cooking is done by. contract or otherwise. (6) Where a dining-room ,is provided the sajna shall bo sufliciently lighted until 9 p.m./. .. . .. - NO DISCRIMINATION, ETC.7. No.employer in,.ttye conduct of his busmess-or'in or'dismissal of men, discriminate agamatj-mejnbprs .of the Union;, nor'''shall ;i ahy employer do "anything for the purpose of injuring the' Union directly or indirectly: Provided 'that nothing' horcin contained shall prejudico the ' right of ' the employer to dismiss any man : for' ihcoiilpet'once or misconduct.- ''. : ' ,8. Any: shearer /nbsonting ' himself .from' work without Jeareior'without -other reasonablo grounds, , or found bringing intoxicants to tho premises, shall be guiltj' of misconduct' '■within, the meaning of ~ .the last-preceding clause. ■ 0. When members of the Union and.nonmembers • aro employed together,. there shall be no 'distinction between i theni, and -bothclasses shall work together in harmony, and shall receive equal pay for equal work■'GENERAL; PROVISIONS. 10. Every shearer shall with all reasonable dispatch shear tho sheep requiring to be shorn, and in good timo and in a. workmanlike manner, to tho satisfaction of tho employer. Tho number to bo shorn shall (approximately) bo agreed upon by and between the employer • and the sliearers' representative at the commencement of. ; the. shearing. 11. It shall .be tlio duty of tho shearers to elect a representative on whom shall devolve tho. duty of settling all disputes l betwoon themselves and the employers: : Provided that tho employer, if . ho considers tho sheep too wot to bo shorn, may turn them out.' 12. All sheep shall bo taken carefully from the catching pen, arid no sheep shall ' bo " legged out, • unless by permission of tho employer. No shearor shall kick 1 or otherwise ill-treat any sheep; 13: If and when a sheep has been seriously cut, it shall be the duty of the shearer who has shorn the sheep at onco to report the fact to tho- employer. . . 14. Tho employer.may require any shearer who has; tnmed out a sheep badly cut or insufficiently tarred to sow and tar the wounds or otherwise to treat and dress tho-wounds. Rut, except in so far as by. this clause provided,: it. sliall not. be tho duty of any shearer to tar sheep. , .' 15. No snearer shall be required, to shear ,any sheep suffering ; from any infectious disease. ' ,-

16. It shall bo the duty in.every case of tho ctnployer to "dag",his sheep; but sheep dagged three, weeks bofor'e the commencement'of tho shearing shall be deemed to be clean, and a. maximum of fifteen per centum shall bo allowed for shoop that havo been missed by the employer. : 17. There- shaj)l be no limitation to, tho nUmbor of leamors in any shed., ~ ; 18. An ! agent of ; the Union duly authorised in writing shall havo the right to visit any. :slied .during,the shearing.' Such agent shall' notify tho employer of his presence in every caso ( and ho shall have no right to interfero with :the .shearers during working hours. - , 19., Subject to tho provisions Tiorein contained, every employor shall have the fullest •control over the shearing shod, and may make such, rules, as he thinks expedient for the proper management of the same. , 20. Nothing herein contained, shall bo deemed to apply to tho members of any employer's, family who may be employed, by-him to shear his own sheop. : DURATION OF AWARD. 21. This award shall como iiito operation oil the'fourteenth day of April, 1908, and shall remain in operation until and including the thirty-first day , of March, 1910, and thereafter, unless _ and until ; superseded by another award or'industrial agreement. - P. J. O'REGAN, ' , Chairman. Wellington, March 14, 1908. PROFIT ON MASTERTON SHOW. ■ A, profit of £200 .resulted from tho last Masterton A, and P, show. OUT OF WORK. WHAT THE FLAX, SLUMP. IS DOING. A filo ■of unemployed mon is apparently being evolved out' of the crisis in the fl axmilling industry. Our Manawatu correspondent writes: — "There is evidently no scarcity of labour in the Manawatu district at present, for a number 1 of flaxmill hands called at tho Palmerstonc branch office of tho Labour Department on Saturday and asked if there was 'any chance of a job?' They stated that they bad been thrown out of employment to the state of the flax market. One re° marked that as they could no longer cut the green blade (flas) ; they would havo to return to the 'good old blade' (the axe). They will seek work as buslifellera."