HIGHER WAGES

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 51, 24 November 1930, Page 10

HIGHER WAGES

Marlborough Builders DECISION OF COURT Equal With Other Awards Increased wages in the award of the Marlborough building trades industrial dispute has been decided on by a majority of the Court of Arbitration, on the ground that the wages fixed by the last award, in 1924, were below those at present in force in other parts of New Zealand. In a memorandum to the award, Mr. Justice Frazer states:—“The only mutter referred to the court was wages. A majority of the court has fixed these at the award rates current for the different trades in other districts. There is at present no building .trades award in force in the Marlborough district, but the -wages fixed by the last award, in 1924, were somewhat lower than those now in force in other parts of New Zealand. There appears to be no reason why the minimum rates of wages payable to workers in the building trades in Marlborough should be relatively less than those paid to workers in other trades in the same district,' or actually less than those naid to workers in the building trades in other districts. “It cannot be suggested that Marlborough is in any way less prosperous than other small districts and sub-districts to which the court’s standard minimum wage rates are applicable, and it is certain that, if the present pward had been made at the same time as building trades awards were made in other districts, the minimum rates would have been the same as in those districts. “It may, of course, be necessary for the court in the future to fix other standards of wages than those now generally prevailing; but, until a general policy has been decided upon, it is thought that what amounts to a special departure for one district should not be made —not. at all events, unless exceptional circumstances are proved to exist in respect of a particular trade or group, of trades in that district.” In a dissenting opinion, Mr. C. W. Prime, employers’ representative on the Court of Arbitration, states: —“Figures quoted at the hearing regarding the nature, quantity, and value of the production of Marlborough, showed conclusively that the greater part of the income of the province is derived from pastoral production, and that it has decreased considerably in recent years. Prices of primary products and the cost of living both being lower now than when the last award was made, there can be no justification for increasing rates of wages. “It is true that the rates awarded are the court’s standard rates fbr the various classes of labour, but the circumstances in this case warrant a departure from standard rates. Rigidity of practice, exemplified by a failure to recognise alterations in general conditions and variations between different districts, is the chief factor ill pinking the operations of the court press hardly on trade and industry, tending to delay rather than assist recovery from depression and unemployment.”