MOVE FOR INCREASE IN AWARD WAGES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 184, 1 May 1940, Page 11

MOVE FOR INCREASE IN AWARD WAGES

Agreement Reached At

Conference

GOVERNMENT TO BE APPROACHED

Arising out of'an application by tlie Federation of Labour to the Court of Arbitration for a fixture for tlie bearing of a general case, in which the Court would be asked to make an order for an immediate and simultaneous increase in all award wages to meet the increased cost of living, a conference between, employers and manufacturers’ representatives and the federation has been held in Wellington. The decision of the conference was that representations be made to the Government to introduce legislation empowering the Court to amend the wage provisions of awards, taking into consideration the cost of living and economic circumstances generally, such, amendments to be reviewed at not less than six-monthly periods. Reference to the possibility of a wage pronouncement by the Court in the near future was made by Mr. J. H. Collins, who appeared for the aerated water workersjn the proceedings for a new award heard by the Court of Arbitration in Wellington yesterday.

In seeking increased wages, Mr. Collins said he was not arguing that such' increases were necessitated by the increased cost of living following the outbreak of war, but because lie considered that the wages in the industry had never been adequate. If.the Court made a general wage pronouncement based on the cost of living subsequent to the issue of the award, he anticipated that it would apply to the award.