CLASSIFIED CENTRES

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 28, 27 October 1932, Page 10

CLASSIFIED CENTRES

Wages in Printing Trade DOMINION DISPUTE HEARD Little progress was made in Conciliation Council yesterday afternoon when proceedings arising out of the dispute between the New Zealand Master 1 Printers’ Association and the New Zealand Federated Newspaper Proprietors’ Association on the one hand, and the New Zealand Federated Typographical Association of Workers on the other hand, were begun. The case is a result of a citation by the employers. After a preliminary study of the employers’ ■ proposals, which were accepted as a basis for negotiation, and a lengthy discussion of the classification clause, upon which a sharp difference of opinion made itself apparent, the proceedings were adjourned until •10 o’clock this morning. The Conciliation' Commissioner, Mr. W. Newton, presided, and. the following assessors were present:— Employers: Messrs. C. W. Enrle (Wellington), R. H. Billens (Palmerston North), F. A. Clarke (Christchurch), H. Harris (Dunedin), G. S. Clark (Auckland). Employees: K. Baxter (Wellington), D. Ryrie (Wellington), J. H. Youngman (Otago), G. L. Austin (Christchurch), and E. Keast (Southland). Mr. G. C. Codlin (Auckland) was the advocate for the employers, and Mr. Baxter acted for the workers. The employers’ proposals provide that the Dominion shall be classified into four groups, according to the population of the centres, and that the wages rates shall vary accordingly. Following are the proposed rates of pay in. class I (cities with a population of 30,000 and over), the present award rates being given in parentheses :— Linotype operators, £4/10/- (£5/10/-, lljss 10 per cent.) ; monotype operators, £4/7/6 (£5/7/-, 'less 10 per cent) ; ..other operators, £4/4/- (£5/2/6, less 10 per cent.). Wages of linotype operators according to classification : Class 1, £4/10/-; class 2 (cities and towns with populations of between 10,000 and 30,000), £4/9/-; class 3 (between 4000 and 10,000), £4/7/-; class 4 (under 4000), £4/5/-. Stone and bulk hands and machines correctors in the four main centres, £4/4/-. It is provided that night workers shall receive 1/6 a night extra with a maximum of 7/6 a week extra. Among proposed alterations to the present award is a higher efficiency speed for operators, a 44-hour week, overtime at the rate of time and a quarter, and an annual holiday of one week without pay. The workers’ counter-proposals are on the basis of the present award-The-Auckland union, which is not a member of the federation, entered separate proposals embodying a 5 per cent, wages increase on the present award. Discussion on the classification clause occupied the greater part of the afternoon, the progress made ; being limited to a clarification of the attitude of both parties. I