CARPENTERS’ DISPUTE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 233, 30 June 1939, Page 11

CARPENTERS’ DISPUTE

No Settlement Yet

MEETING YESTERDAY The dispute between the representatives'of the Carpenters and Joiners’ Union, the General Labourers’ Union, and the employers is still unsettled, no improvement in the position being reported after the representatives of workers and employers had met in Wellington yesterday. The spokesmen for the unions stated at the outset that there was only one matter the unions wished to be dealt with, namely, the question of payment for statutory holidays, and they demanded that a disputes committee be set up immediately to deal with that question. According to a statement issued after the meeting the employers replied: “We will not set up a disputes committee to deal with statutory holidays, but we are prepared to. set up a disputes committee at afiy time there is a dispute which comes within the jurisdiction of the disputes committee, as laid down in clause 19 of the award.” In explanation of their attitude, the employers stated that the question of payment for statutory holidays, was. referred to the Court of Arbitration, argued before the Court and decided by the Court, and it was therefore a matter settled for the term of the award. The employers then asked that the workers’ representatives should • submit any other matters which were causing their members dissatisfaction, so that they might be discussed, ■ but Hie workers’ representatives said they would not submit anything except to. a properly constituted disputes committee. The meeting thereupon terminated.

A meeting of carpenters and joiners will be held on Tuesday next.