STATEMENT BY THE UNION.

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 9, 11 July 1922, Page 7

STATEMENT BY THE UNION.

WHAT THE COUNCIL'S DEMANDS INVOLVE.

A lengthy statement regarding tfrtj attitude taken up by the Tramwaymcn'^ Union was made to-day by Mr. A. L. Monteith, secretary of the union, who! pointed out, inter alia, that tho condi* tious which tho City Council desire* ■ the men to accept really involve a sub^ stantial increase in working hours. "Wo opened proceedings on the BtU of June by writing to the General Manager of Tramways,, enclosing a copy of! our claims, and asking for a conferences pointing out that the agreement viral fli shortly expire," said Mr. Monteit'A.; "We received a reply, dated the 15' ih r ' from the Town Clerk's office, stating that tho Committee wewH! receive our delegates on the 16th.' "We!duly attended, and the Mayor aakedi us why the members oi' the union, de-i sired an increase in wages.''" We " told! him our reason was that the traircwajn had made a profit of £22,000 last year., In response to the Mayor's request, also made a statement as to our conifiS tions. At no part of the proceedings) did the Tramways Committee make^aaj! mention of a reduction in wages. "On the next morning, the 17th, "*fc received a letter, datod the 16th, staging! that the question of our condriioial ■would be considered latw on, that the! council had already decided that a m tluctionof 5s per week, as authorised bj; the Arbitration Court, •would bo given' effect to at the expiry of tho present agreement, and that instructions hac( been issued accordingly.

"The union met to consider the matter* and on the 21st June we wrote to thel Mayor stating that the pronouncement ol thfl Arbitration Court did not apply to us, as our agreement was . registered under the Labour Disputes'lnvestigation AH.. The following resolution , was passed:—That this union, after considering the letter of thp Town Clerk nofifyins the intention of lie City Council to

, .City Council is prepared to mak« a decrease, and would draw attention to th« fact«-thftt--such-surprising alacrity -was ■not shown when the cost of living was rapidly increasing. We would also draw jthe council's attention to the fact that ■ jiv&ile you propose to reduce our wages, jywir ■; increased' 6evcr»lr tramways officers- -salaries by laise' ■;. amounts;'" This. union . hereby notifies the City Council that it is not iprepar«d to accept this-arbitrary reduction, and that the rates of wages can; only be settled by consultation with this union through ite representatives, and apt by arbitrary notice to individual Members. As'- a*-dispute .will arise/ on tHe 30th inst., as to the rates to be ipadd, and as this union has no wish to cause any inconvenience, we suggest (that the present rates be paid and the present conditions observed until an •agreement is arrived at." '' The next letter we} received from the aSsistant-genera! manager, stating that •cut members were going to be given inoiice by circular that a reduction was coining to them. Having been unable jto5" reach any agreement with the council,' and considering that the action .would be reasonable, we. filed a cisc sunder the Labour Disputes Investigation. 'Apt. It is as well to note that, twelve months'ago, the City Council agreed to jthe present agreement being registered. ;iuider that Act, and it seems strange mow, at this late hour, that the council should raise its objection to our pro-.. ' ceeding under that Act.' On the 23rd (we received a ' further communication fr&n the City Council, stating that it •was prepared to meet us in conference provided we agreed to two' pointsill' That the conference should only bs held oi}'\thej. understanding ■■that; the; ss, reduction was agreed to; and (2) that tlija union ...registered,, .any * agreement, reached as "an award of the-Arbitration Court. We . replied- ; stating that we .would be only'tod pleased.'to atteni.any cojifereifce'with the City Council, but that wecould not agree to the two conditions laid down, without discussion. We also "said th'at■' we' would' attend the' conference at 10 o'clock, provided the Government did i not call a conference earlier under the Labour Disputes ■Iriyejjftigatipn, Act. ...The Government, however, did call a conference earlier, and there the"council'srepresentatives stated. th|(t they. ..were , instructed,. that they conld not^ proceed/with; thedispute until the union had 'agreed to these two points. It'rwas, "therefore, a case of bur attending the conference not free to negotiate, but with"Jom lJ hands tied behind our backs. The union could not understand thij' council's viewpoint on these matters, sof,we wr.ote.^, t<r. the.Mayor,, suggesting an", opportunity should be given to put our case before the council. This opportunity was afforded us. "The Mayor thanked us; % fpr the ..temperate,manner in which we put our case, and stated that the council.would reply the. next' day. Next day a reply was. received to the effect that the council. adhered to its former decision.1 ■ >-,-.. : AGAINST ARBITRATION COURT, reason why we do not'wish "to' go "to the Arbitration Court is: as follows :—ln.' .1920, '.'. we went; to the Court for? the ,fi,rst ,time, : .,, We, came.. to ...an agreement with the City Council on ■ st£ May, 1920, and as the cost of living vvaSuiusing^very^apidly at that period, 3, clause^was inserted that the inion had-the ■• right to apply •■ to the fjonrt for, a .revision of the wages under oie' schedule at the end of six months. The understanding,: was that, the ..in-' crease in the cost of living should be assessed by the 'Court,- and placed on the! wages schedule. On Ist November, we" niase,,' j aft" agpHcatidnrto the,'.' Court,, and, although the cost of living showed fuulincreaßß of 75,, we. only received a bonU6'""6f "3s.V The difference between jyhat^we^ should have, gpt^and what we . teeeived was 4s, and .< for the balance , »f,'. the agreement, the City Council saved approximately £6000 as a result of;, th?.t decision. It was, in our opinion, an absolutely decision. Other workers only received 3s, but.as .we had never- been to the Court previously, 'it had nothing., t0,,d0 with us at* all whether other workers had been under paid or-over paid by the-Gou'rt. Between Ist /November, and the time thj new agreement was made, there was a further increase "in1 the cost of living of 3s. In July, 1921, we made a Jiew agreement, under which practicialjy no increase in wages was given" to us* The assessors-for the lGity Council told ,us.that*if iwe agreed to forego-an increase, "theI'"council, .which,had,"or'was about to, increase the price •of workers' concession tickets, would pass on the additional revenue to the. public in the iform of lower fares. No reduction in fares took place, however, until about a • month before our agreement expired; •Wjo had not received any increase in ■wages'as agreed; but, in reality, the .council owed us 4s for the first sixmonthly period and 3s for the second, a ;tpfcal ofJ7s. While the last agreement wa« in forco^the cost of living, accord?; ing* to--the-Sovernment Statistician's figures,"fell by*7s, .so we.consider that as' -the" :eotfflcil has not decreased the fares all-round; we would be all square if'it were agreed to continue the presejit Tatea,.vo£'wages. „We aleo suggest , that in atfflouiicing:; : ;;a:;;;decrease in the 1 fares, the»>Mayoi?--.-should consider the s&vjsabilifySaE. Jailing it out of the 5822,000 prgfit ijaadC by the trams^'laSt: year „^: . _,*.^...,..,^_-.r ... w ». i -..,, m ,^, ■. — ._, .'I ■_ EXTENSION OF HOURS:, ,"It has been, stated-In the press that thfe^council does ,nqt want to make any ' 'substantial alteration in the conditions oflthe men. This does not tally with the' claims subnlitted to ns and' 'the* letter ; that stated; that we had forty-eight hours to •■ agree to the council's terms or not. Me' council's claims, while'"makahg' a re-" duction in wages, also make a substantial, alteration in conditions.' The council ivants us to agree to an extension of tours. Men'on'straight-shifte now work a limit of 8 hours 50 minutes per dayandjthe council wishes in some instances lo'make'-anjncreas'e...to 9i hours. ,!The council also desires to make a substantial "increase..in ;the spread, of hours.'on brok,en.,.shifts,.....Under the existing agree-ment-men-on-broken shifts have to worktwelve to thirteen hours to earn eight hours'" wages; "and the' council Wants to mate the spread of hours practically uniliniited. It is.also soufjKt t<£effe£t'a re>" irluiction in overtime, rates, in one case of awut 75 per cent.j j and. to make .1 reduc Itftm an the "dirt motieyl' earned at the jpajver-house. "I might;say.thitt^this.work at'<the power-Souse is the - worst-work 'that men can undertake;;that is'wbrk" vx,. connection with bojloTs. No'menrlilceit" anjd it is now proposed that, instead of paying extra rates at .all -times for this •work they shall be paid ■ probably only ( iabout_pnce a year. •: ■ ■■;.■■ .'' ' ; BROKEN SHIFTS, ? The council also proposes a rettltetUm £n wen's travelling tiiflS aSS ail iiicfease Sn.the numbei1 eE brbkea ahifte to be worked. The msii do not like the bi'dkeil shilts, because that means that 6ne has ioiitart ftfc,_ say, 6 o'deek in the m&rn= inland finish somewhere about .7 o'clock at piglit in order to get in an eight hours' day. Consequently, the men are not in favour of an extension of these sliifts. "This union only desires n, fair deal for itself, tho travelling public, and the Corporation, and it only asks that this Hispute shall be_£ettled on its monk, We are prepared to meet the representatives of the City "Council with"untied hands in order to, settle the matter amicably and equitably, and -we have always bean so prepared. We have made various puggestjpns. to .th6..cpuncil which we congiderea would brag abpnt aa. easjj K&&'

■inent, but, to . date, these suggestions have failed, and we have not had any counter-suggestions fro in the council. " We have noticed that the Mayor, in a statement to the press, says the council asks that any agreement reached shall be made an i award of the Court. We think, however, that; the methods' .of ,the.council savour more of a ' stand- ■ and-deliver,' attitude than mere requests. or suggestions. In regard to the Mayor's statement that an agreement under the Labour Disputes Investigation Act is not enforcible, we would point out that it would bo just as enforcable as if made under the Arbitration Act. The only difference .is that the Arbitration Act provides a penalty of £100 and the Lab-' our Disputes Investigation Act a penalty of £1000., DANGER TO THE PUBLIC. ■ "Respecting a suggestion that it is hoped to run a limited service in the event of further trouble, w« desire to say that men who have left our organisation'honourably think too much of it to assist in such methods as proposed. If a limited service were run, the cars would be manned no doubt by proved incompetents; to the undoubted danger of the public, and we hope that'such a service, fraught with dangerous possibilities, will not be put into operation." Mr. Montejjh made it clear thai the union was stiU ready to settle the dispute on a basis fair to all parties. MR, PARTON'S VIEWS. IVir. A. W. Parton, nominee of the Civic League in connection with the byelection for a city councillor, to be held next r,week, has made the. following statement regarding the tramwaymen's iJote : —"I am of the opinion that before the ballot to strike was taken, the union should have made public why such action was necessary. Why was a ballot 'taken before a clear and full statement was made to the public ? The burden of the high tramway fares is pressing hard on the workers, who are represented by three million passengers each month, and this must be considered by the 500 tramwaymen. There have been demands made'on the council for a reduction in fares, and such demands I support, but no reduction can be made until there is a saving in expenses. I am opposed at all times to strike methods, We should settle our disputes by conciliation and arbitration. There was no machinery under the Labour Disputes Act to enforce any final settlement. As the tramwaymen are affiliated with the Alliance of Labour and, I understand, registered under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, there was apparently 'no need1, for the present ballot. Under this head surely the public is entitled to a clear definite statement from the union, as to why its action was necessary. The. tramwaymen have an Appeal Board, and they cannot enjoy such privileges without having some responsibility to1 the public generally."