METAL WORKERS ARBITRATION COURT AWARD FIRST IN WELLINGTON.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1914, Page 8

METAL WORKERS ARBITRATION COURT AWARD FIRST IN WELLINGTON.

SLIGHT INCREASE IN PAY. Considerable interest attaches to the Arbitration Court's 'awaid in the Welllngcon metal woikeis' dispute, which came to hand tliis morning. The awaid is the first made for metal woxkei's in the engineering trade in the Wellington district, and during the hearing of the dispute before the Court the employe! s made it very plain that the state of the industry was such that it could not bear the men's demands. The Court, in an attached memorandum to the awaid, states : " This award, for the most pail, is based upon the awards | made in connection with the engineering trade throughout the Dominion. A slight increase has been granted upon the wages stipulated in those awards, ' and the classification of workers' has been simplified in such manner as provides a minimum rate of Is 2d per hour for all adult workers." FORTY-SEVEN HOURS' WEEK. In response to the men's demand for a forty-four-hour week, the Court has granted a week of forty-seven hours, as compared with from forty-eight to forty- i five hours, observed in various workshops working in the trade in Welling- 1 ton at present. Overtime shall be paid for at the rate of time and a quarter for the first two hours, and thereafter at the rate of time and a half, while | work done on New Year's Day, Easter I Monday, and the King's Birthday shall be paid for at the rate of time and a half, and double rates shall be paid for work performed on Sundays, Good Friday, Labour Day, and Christmas Day. What the men demanded was time and , a quarter for the first two hours, time i and a half thereafter up to 10 p.m., and double time between 10 p.m. and tine ordinary time for commencing work next t morning. They also wanted double rates for woi'k done on Sundays, and six holidays during the year. The Court has granted the men ' 3 demands for 2s per shift extra for night shifts upon specified conditions, and also Is per day extra for men and 6d for boys engaged on dirty work. The following wages are prescribed : — ; Furnacemen, Is 3d per hour ; work done j on ships or marine boiler repair work, < Is 3d per hour ; machinists, Is 3d per ] hour ; all others, Is 2d per hour. The ' rates granted fall considerably short of those sought by the men, which were as follow : — Machinists (drilling, shearing, and punching), Is 4£d per hour; fettlers, Is 4£d per hour ; range-fitters, Is 4£d per hour ; -grinders (casting), Is 4£d per hour ; strikers, Is 4^d per hour ; yardmen. Is 4^d per hour ; labourers, Is 4£d per hour; men employed as holdersup on any class of work, furnacing, and flanging, boiler work. Is 4£d per hour, and when this work is done on ships or steamers, Is 5d per hour ; furnacemen, Is 6d per hour. Tlie following rates are fixed for boys and youths : — Under 15 years of age, 103 per week ; from 15 to 16 years, 15s ; from 16 to 17, £1 ; from 17 to 18, £1 ss ; from 18 to 19, £1 10s ; from 19 to 20, £1 15s, and thereafter minimum rates. As for youths, the rates fixed by the Court are again considerably below the union's demands, which were as follow : — Up to 17 years of age, £1 per week; up to 18 years of age, £1 5s per week; up to 19 years of age, £1 10s per week ; up to 20 years of age, £2 per week ; up to 21 years of age, Is per hour. The proportion of boys and youths is fixed at not more than one to three or fraction of three men fully employed. In this the men have been granted more than they asked, the proportion demanded by them being one to five or every fraction of five. SPECIAL CONDITIONS. Special conditions are granted for suburban and country work, and underrate workers. The usual preference clause is inserted. The award will come into force on 6th April next, and will remain in operation j until 31st December, 1916, but if a Dominion award is made to op.crate in I the Wellington district in the meantime it shall supersede the present award. The employers, in reply to the men's demands, asked for the Christchurch award, which prescribes a minimum rate of Is per hour for metal workers, with a 48-hdur week.