TEE BOOT TRADE DISPUTE.

Evening Post, Volume LII, Issue 156, 23 November 1896, Page 6

TEE BOOT TRADE DISPUTE.

THREATENEB STRIKE IN "WELLINGTON. r Many of the employes in the boot factories in "Wellington are much exercised over the decision of the Arbitration Court ,in Christchurch, in reference to the dispute ,witli the Boot Manufacturers' Association regarding the rate of wages and the conditions of labour. The award of Mi*. Justice Williams and assessors was that until the end of Becember of next year men jbelonging to the New Zealand Federated Bootmakers' Union should be employed in preference to non-members, provided that there are a sufficient number of member- willing and ready to do the work; that weekly hands and piece-workers should start and leave off work at the same time, so as to give no unfair advantage to either ; that all work in connection with choiring, benching, and finishing should be done in the workshop, and that there should be no alteration in the rule as to the proportion of apprentices to journeymen. , It is stated by many of the "Wellington operatives that the award is practically a victory for the masters. This morning a large number of the hands in Messrs. Hannah & Co.'s factory absented themselves in order to attend a meeting to disensss the position, and they have not yet returned to work. Some of the other factories were al?o represented. There was not, however, 'a representation of all the local establishments, and it was decided that no decision should be arrived at until to-night. We are givon to understand that a number of the hands are anxious that a strike should be declared, but that the majority are averse to such an extreme course.