BUTCHERS' DISPUTE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 38, 8 November 1919, Page 8

BUTCHERS' DISPUTE

DISCUSSED AT CONCILIATION COUNCIL

NO FINALITY REACHED

A sitting of the Conciliation Council, presided over by the Commissioner (Mr. W. Newton) was held in Wellington yesterday to discuss the demands of the Wellington Operative Butchers' Union for improved wages aud conditions of work. The assessors were:—For tho applicant union, Messrs. R. Breen, A. Needham, and J. Robertson; for the piaster butchers,. Messrs. W. Moylan, A'. Cheescman, and B. Bnrber. Mr. W. A. Grenfell appeared as agent for tho employers. The union demands have already been published. .For first shopman or man in charge, JJS ss. per week was asked; for second shopman, £1 155.;. for first smallgoods man, .£5 55.; for- other workers, .-£4 10s. A week's work nob exceeding 47* hours was also sought. Thera had been some delay in the sending out of notices of the sitting, and on this account the employers' assessors' requested the union to waive tho usual requirement that the counter-proposals must be supplied three clear days beforo tho sitting. '

Mr. Grenfell: "Notices were received by. the employers only yesterday morning." He hoped that the conditions of the old award would be accepted by the union as being the counter-proposals. The union agreed to the suggestion, Mr. Grenfell stated that the employers were not prepared to concede any alteration of hours in the ward. Employers in the trade hud to compote with some persons who were not employers, nnd who would consequently not be bound by the provisions of the award. The master butchers bound by the award wished to nava their hours subject to no other regitlotion than that prescribed in tho Shops and Offices Act.

the union representatives rejoined that the employers might fix the hours for the trade by requisition. Mr. Grenfell considered that that means was not one likely to afford proper protection to the employers. When the wages demands came np for discussion, Mr. Barber said they werv extreme and impossible. The employers' offer was £i 15s. for first shopman. Mr. Needham asked \viketlier tho- employers had considered wihat it cost a butcher to equip himself with the coats and aprons worn in the trade. The rale of wages offered was not adequate to meet tho cost of living. The men wished to see the meat allowance cut out, and a cash increase granted instead. Replying to an observation of Mr. Grenfell, Mr. Needham admitted that the present rate of wages actually paid in the trade in Wellington was highor than tho amount of the employers' offei. Mr. Robertson: Wo admit it, and we wish to see it put in the award. We know that the majority to-day are paying <£i.

Mr. Needham said that the union would agree to delete u clause demanding a washing allowance of 5.?. per week, if tho employers would concede a. minimum wsje of JJ3 17s. Gd. 'the offer was not accepted. Mr. Needham presented it again in a modified form. Ho said that in return for a settlement that the wage should bo JM, ho would doloto the washing clause and would permit tho hours to he regulated as tho employers desired them to'be regulated, viz.. by tho provisions of the Shops and Offices Act, The tecond offer met with tho same fato as the first.

At the end of tho day, the sitting was adjourned to November 18, no agreement having been reached upon any important point.