BOARD OF CONCILIATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 232, 24 June 1908, Page 9

BOARD OF CONCILIATION.

THE TAILORS' DISPUTE.

RECOMMENDATION FILED. The Board of Conciliation yesterday filed its recommendation ill the dispute between the Wellington 'Tailors' ; Union of 'Workers and employers'throughout tli'o industrial district. - Hours of Labour. It is provided that tho hours of labour should not Exceed 48, per weok.' The. working hours.should be: —Oir Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 1 pm. to 5.30 p.m.; on' Thursday and Friday,'from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 12.45 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.; on Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; provided that master tailors who have tailors working ill factories may adjust tho working hours to suit thoso observed in' faotories, hut so that .not moro than 48 are worked* in one week. Apprentices.

The number of' apprentices. should not exceed ono to every four men, or fraction of the first four. men, provided that no two apprentices should be engaged in any ono year, and further that tho proportion should be gauged' 'by' the "full employment of joiiynoyuicn for two-thirds of tho year preceding. Apprentices should' he.paid at the following rates -.—First year, ss. per week; first six months of second year,'Bs.; second six months of second N year, 10s.; first six mbntlis of third year,; 12s. 6d.; arid 2s. 6d. per week additional in 'respect of "oach succeeding' six months,.. up to. tho end of the fifth year.

i General Provisions. ■ Not more than tho weekly-wage hand slijll bo employed in any shop unless pieco-workers are also employed therein, and tho proportion of wcekly-wago hands shall .not .be less .than one to eve/y four'piece-workers or fraction of tho first four.". /For. tho purpose of determining; the number .of • weekly-wage liands. to piece-workers, tho calculation should bo based on two-thirds of the full time em--ployment for the six.months, preceding,' provided that'nothing in the clause should prohibit'an employer from employing a pressor (if ho has. not a sufficient proportion in relation to 'piece-workers) on weekly wages, and if necessary- suoh pressor may fill up his - time "at cleaning,, repairing, and alterations,' and provided-further that every such pressor should be paid not cjos. per week. ". . . . •

All , work should be done, on the workshop premises of the employers set apart and used by thom exclusively for such purpose, and no work should be done on any premises'- occupied by finy operative; and no employee Bhould" sublet ; any portion of the 'premises occupied-by him to any employer for tlio purpose of the,same, beiiig used as'a factory. All frospQke .work should bo done in the 'shop/of the employer for whbm-'tho same is performed, and for whom or by whom the order for ■ tlio* same is'taken/- Such work should be done by journeymen, and should bo paid,' for according- to the time statement. VVagea and Otfortlma. The minimum wago for -weekly men shall bo £3 per week.. .Overtime shall be paid as follows Weekly hands: Time and a quarter until 10 p.m. ; from 10 p;m. until midnight, time and a half; frorh midnighlj until 6 a.m., double, .time; and from-6, a.m.- until 8 a.m., time and a quarter; Bieco workers shall bo paid an additional 3d. per hour until 10 p.m.; 6d. from-lO pjm..'until midnight; Is. from: midnight until.6 a.m.; and 3d. from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. .In.(Computing overtime/in this award each day- shall stand by itself," i.e.,: overtime shall 'be payablo if the hours prescribed for> any, one day shall ,bo exceeded even althoughHne aggregato number of hours worked per week does not exceed 48. Weekly wage'workers shall .bo .paid double time for work done'oil, any of the'holidays or on Sundays, and ;piecs workers ■ shall be paid an additional Is? pep hour for. work done on the same days'. ;

,o , Holidays. _ ;tn The following shalL be tho recognised holi-" Sr days:—Now Year's' Day, Anniversary Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Prince of Wales' .'Birthday, Labour Day, Birthday of . the reigning-' Sovereign, Christmas Day, and Boxing-'Day/- 'No deduction shall be made for'any of'these'holidays. ■ ' . Preference. A Employers shall' give preference of-'em- ■ ployment to members of. the Union if and so long'as there aro members, of the Union .. equally qualified with - non-members to, per- ■ form the work required to bo donq-and v, 1 equally willing to do'tho same. Members of q; the TJnion ' shall' likewise give prcferenco to j, mombers of tli'o ; Employers. Tailor 3 ,'Union * L( who aro willing to employ them on terms not | less' advantageous than' non-members are' w ; offering and giving. ... T .' / t] .\. . . '■ . si Detail Disputes. . - ~f ii In tho evont' of -any dispute arisin'g as to 1; the interpretation of, ariy of' the provisions t of this award tho'sarao shall bo referred to a t committee consisting of two representatives t of tho Union and two of the ;employers, to o be appointed as occasion requires, 3and they ti shall jointly elect a chairman, who shall have b casting , voto. . The interpretation of such a ; committee shall be tho true interpretation, 1< and any departure therefrom sliall consti- t tuto a breach of the award.; V""' . r : ' , ' r . / Duration of ths Awa(dy-' ■ t This award shall como into operation on jj July 23, 1908, and shall remain ,i)i operation * until July 23, 1910, _ and thei'eafter unless J and until superseded by another award Or ' industrial agreement. , *«»' '• < \1 r;r ■ 1 Memorandum. I/ 1, ... In connection -with this .dispute, the. cm- ; ployers by their- accredited, [j;cpresciitatiyo. < informed tho Board that. onfAccount.'of tho 1 ruling of Mr. Justice Sim ■ in.-'tlie flaxmillers'. 1 case, they declined to appear voluntarily i before tho Board, We could,,{if course, ,havo 1 compelled'their attendance, '.put in -vipw of - tho timc'that must necessarily have been oc- 1 , cupiod, more especially' as"-the employers i had declared their intention, of taking tho caso to the Court, unddr aU.Y circumstances, - we deemed it preferable t.o savo our own ' time and'tho taxpayers', money! We have, however, collected a. great deal of information in connection with tailoring .trade, • and wo think our- recommendation fair and . equitable under'thtf.'eircfmistanccs. At any rato, -we'aro satisfied'that- if further inquiries had been made, our, cbhclusipns would not •have been. so. ivicJely' diiForent': as .to justify tho additional eft'[jehs£'which' must necessarily, have be^i'/ihoiifred..'■' Obviously, wo have not been iinpelled' to take greater-pains to assist the Cotn;'t Hecauso of tho avowed pre-determinatioli-to delay the case until tho Court sits, quito irrespective of .what wo did. It is quito clear,., that we cannot bring tho parties togothor by-compulsion, and we neither-.intaUled'nor desired to do so. In '. face of tho:?sfit.tlefl policy of /tho. employers to boycott-ithc. Board ;as an indirect protest' against ,-tf : ro''ruling of- the Court, wo think it not a 4ittlo remarkable that tho workers only shdtild'bo accused of disloyalty to. the . Act. 'df.- i . The Uiiion has put m a number of amend;both logics filed. To re-draft tho with,'thbso; r apjcndincnts would liavo invclvedi,cbiisidci;(i))lo delay and expense, and we havo' accordingly decided to' attach tho amondriients. i — ' NAPIER PAINTERS' DISPUTE.. ORIGINAL AGREEMENT FILED. ' Owing to? domplaint having been mado by tho parties'to tho Napier Painters' dispute that some 1 ' of the provisions of tho Board's recommendation; were ; iiot identical with those in the agreement signed by them, tho Board yesterday filed- tho original 1 agreomont. Attachod.'to tho agreement was tho letter forwardcd'v.by tho parties to the Chairman of the Board. The concluding paragraph read as follows:—"We jointly desire that the agreement entered into by the parties and signed .by thorn should ba sent to the Court to 'bo made into an award without any alterations whatever." (Signed) H.

Bell (President), and S. Wright (secretary) of tho Hawko's Bay Employers' Association, and 11. 11. Houghton (President), and Ghas. M'Kcnwo (secretary), of Napier Painters and Decorators' Union of Workers. Upon filing tho recommendation, tho Chairman of tho 1 Board pointed out in a memo-

randum that it had boon found necessary to make several alterations. For instance, while "suburban work" was, ho said, defined by the parties to moan work carried on at a distance .exceeding two, miles, hut not exceeding six • milos from tho employers place of business, or the worker's placo of residence (whichever might bo nearer the work), " country work " was to be work carried on at a distance exceeding six miles from the chief post office. Manifestly, these definitions were inconsistent, _ and if not altered would lead to over-lapping and confusion.. Tho Board had accordingly altered tho definition of " country work" to mako it consistent with the . definition of "suburban work." In a momorandum accompanying tho agreement tho Chairman now said:—"Sinco filing tho Board's recommendation in connection with this case, tho parties liavo forwarded mo a joint requost, and, in compliance with their request, I now file the document representing their original agreoment. I was unable to bo present at tho sitting of tho Board at Napier, , when tho parties came .to that agreement,, but when tho Board met at Wellington I dcemod it my duty to point out what appeared to be a number of defects in the drafting. My_ colloagues wero loth to concur in any alteration, having rogard to the strongly expressed wish of tho parties to the contrary, but, on specific instances in support .of my viow having been pointed out, they unhesitatingly agreed that somo amendments wore -required, , "Take for instance Clauso 3 of tho Board's recominondation, which is practically identical with tho corresponding Clauso 1 of the original agreement. The clauso .in question roads as follows: —'All journeymen paint/ ors, paporhangnrs,. glaziors, gramors, signwriters, decorators, and " distemperers, and all other-journeymen workers: in any other branch of the trade (except under-rate workers) shall Jie paid not loss than Is. 3d. per hour.',' Now read Clauso 2 of tho Board's recommendation, which is wordod as follows:— 'If..and when painters and decorators aro employed in any factory, or bnsinoss of an emgployer whose principal business' is not that of painting and decorating, hut the painting and decorating is merely subsidiary to sucn principal business, then in such case tho hours of labour shall -be thoso 'proscribed or observed for or in 'such principal business.' I pointed out to my colleagues that the worda 'painters and decorators', should bo deleted and replaced by the words 'any of tho labourers mentioned in Clause 3,' or words to tho

like effect.' • The Board did not, however, venture to make so wido a departure from the original agreement, and so the' wgrds ['painters and decorators' were allowed to 'stand.' I- pointed out the matter to Mr. Wright.', flowovor, I 1 was (aiid. am) of opinion that unless . such an alteration ia mado as I have indicated, it might well bo held that tlio benefits contemplated by Clause 5 for ; tlio employers may bp held applicablo only in respect of painters and decorators and •not in respect of tho expanded category enumerated in Clause 3. ■

"Wo would point out that the original docuinont is silent as to the scopo of tho pror posed award —a provision which is never omitted from, awards applicablo to less areas than tho industrial district..' Surely tho Board was right ,in assuming that the real intention of tlio parties was to insert such a clause. Again, with reference to the definition of 'suburban work' and 'country work,' tho Board considered that for the purposes-of botli definitions a common centre must of necessity ho selected, otherwise how could confusion bo averted? Men might bo engaged on oitlier class of work according ■ to the centre from which the distance is computed. There aro alterations of less importance, hut which I think must have boon in tho parties' minds. For example, in tlio case of apprentices, it .is. usual to state that the period of. skaH bo reckoned as part of tho apprenticeship period, but tho original 'document does not say so. Oil' looking over the original, however, I •notice that the Board omitted the last paragraph of the clause relating to apprentices. This was a mire oversight. - "Whilst filing tho original in deference to the desires of the parties,'l ( admit no responsibility therefor."-