ARBITRATION COURT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 299, 11 September 1908, Page 4

ARBITRATION COURT.

TAILORS' DISPUTE. DUTIES OF AN APPRENTICE. Hearing of the dispute between the Wellington Tailors' Industrial Union and the : employers comprised yesterday's business at itlic Arbitration Court, before his Honour ■ Mr. Justice Sim, Mr. S. Brown, and Mr. J. 'A. M'Cullough. ; Mr. W. Pryor appeared for the employers iand Mr. P. Muir for the union. Mr. Pryor said that he wished to make an explanation with regard to a statement he ; had made when the case was last before the : Court. Ho desired not to mislead the Court, : and tlio circumstances'were not just- as lis had put them with regard to-payment for holidays. He had been under the impression ;that a good number of employers were not paying for holidays. As a matter of fact, a ; considerable number paid for holidays given, i but this was done through a misapprehension as to their duty under the Factories Act. At the same time, there' was a good deal of give and take with regard toovertime. On Mi'. Muir's application, several parties wero added to tlio list of those already cited. Mr. Muir explained, in regard to a question previously asked .by Mr. Brown as to pressing, that the union agreed that appren- : tices should press their own work,' but the : objection was to their pressing girls' work. Evidonco was then tendered by Mr. Muir. William Stephen, tailor in tbo employ of Mr. Milligan, said that ho was a weekly i man. Thero wero three other weekly men in • Mr. Milligan's employ. Witness received : three guineas per week. The other weekly : men got £3 55., £3 35., and'£3 respectively. !They wore paid for all overtime worked. Since. ■ taken on by Mr. Milligan, ho had had con- • slant employment, and it was the custom in the shop for the weekly men to be kept i always at work. Witness s apprentice did-no-thing; beyond pressing his, own work. When •on piecework, witness, had earned about £3 3s. per week. , ■■■ To Mr. Brown: He considered that in Wellington there were quite sufficient apprentices. Since, he. had been in Mr. Milligan's .shop i thero had been no difficulty in obtaining ap- . prentices. . To Mr. Pryor: He was considered one of the fastest men in Mr. Milligan's shop. He thought that £3 a week was a' fair minimum, i not too much for a slow man. He considered any man, no matter how'slow, he was, was ; worth £3 per week. When on piecework he i'did not want to press more than his own I work; If there were no .restriction on ap-' . prentices it would make little difference in : the city shops. Apprentices could." still he fot. There were four apprentices with' Mr. 'illigan. Mr. Milligan s .shop was looked .upon as one of the steadiest for work. Percy Gunner, apprentice in Mr. Norton's tailoring establishment, said that previously, .in Mr. Rogers's shop, no' weekly : man had been employed to teach him the trade. He had been with Mr. Rogers in the shop, and did the. pressing, for the girls. He was not ;being taught the trade. Thirteen hours.of pressing per week would be rather hard on, a William Waterworth, president of the Tailors' Union, stated that he was a piece- : worker in Te Aro House. Previous to the ratification of the award, things were mixed —thero wero a number of weekly workers, and a number of pieceworkers in a shop.' i There had been in vogue also the "day's 1 wage" system, of which witness himself had been a victim. He had never' lieard : of 1 a ; union objecting to a master taking on an apprentice when ho employed no weekly men. 1 Mr. Pryor: You are opposed to tho weekly 'wage system?— Witness: Yes. His Honour: What is your objection?— Witness: My objection-is that it is merely a daily wage. One has to make up his log whether on weekly wage or not, and put in ; his'tickets in the ordinary, way. One has ito make-something above what ha is . paid : for, pieceworfr lie is paid for what he does. .. .. . Hid H6M'6n'r :■ You "would"rather woik' -on piecework?—Witness:'Yes. ' To Mr. Pryor: 'Last bad .been 1 a: fairly good-one. 'Witness had'earned'on-"an.'aver- : age'£2 Bs. per week during .the;past'twelve months. He' thought it fair'to.ask thatthei employers should pay a minimum . of £3 a 'week. It was ridiculous,-in witness's'opinion, to expect men to work for less. To Mr. Muir : Even if the'day-wage sys- . tem came into force, his employer .would not ; ask him, to work on day wages, becauso ho • was not a very fast worker. iGeorge Taylor stated.that lie was a weekly ■man earning £3 per week.at. Quintan's! Before tho 1902 award in Sydney, -75 to 85 per cent, of the trade were pieceworkers. At that time there was a good deal of confusion among tho tailors. John Hodges said that he was a pieceworker at Mr. D. Milligan's. Tlio piece■workers started at.B, or a few minutes after, and worked till '5 p.m/for three days, and : until a quarter to six on tho other two days.' ■ It did not pay a pieceworker to come in at ■irregular hours; he then had little chance '. of making ,a. wage at all. Witness preferrer- ' do piecework, becauso that"system put's , the men'on' a. level.;'.' If ,they adopted f' weekly system,'.,it' would''-'practically ni l ' slave's of the men. One man would bo pi' •' against another, and. the slow man woul ' to" the wall. In piecework, of course. 1 '? was impossible. Ho did not think a mir. i wage of £3 was too high. A workma' I must come in at 8 o'clock and work ' • hours. Tho weekly wago was supp .. be based on what an average man co i at piece rates.- 'A weekly hand wa" the fastest man in the shop. Mr. Pryor proceeded to call evi Thomas Shields stated that ho 1' - business in Wellington as a' tai . -r past 18 years. During that t nover paid for holidays. At tb' r. 'Mr. Pryor, ho had mado inquil'i • a city tailors, and found that j paid for holidays, owing to.,a r .., • ing .on their part as to the.'n '.i; .. -jf the Factories Act. Ho paid his. c - ■ .rid £3 ss. a week. Four pieqei liis employ-earned £3 ss. a week; y,d one apprentice, who pressed with, * inan - > Q whoso company ho worked. ; Al do a little extra pressing, but'.would not be employed 'at that more than. about.'a day ■and a half per week.. It. was necessary that a lad should do some pressing,in learning a trade. '. : ' To Mri : Muir: He was not aware that his weekly man, Mr. Perry; was said "to be one of the fastest" workers in'the'.city. .' "It w'aS very handy to liavo' a weekly hand in the shop; he'could tako charge in tlio absence of his. employer. Thero were other advantages, too, and even before witness had branches to tako up his attention'it had been his custom to. employ, a weekly hand. This concluded''tlio' evidence, and tho 'case was adjourned' that further ' evidence' might bo heard in other ' districts.-.