WAGE FACTORS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1927, Page 10

WAGE FACTORS

COST OF LIVING

"•It may bo well to point out thai the factor of tho cost of living does not enter so largely into the consideration of the Court as is sometimes thought,'-' said Mr. Justice Frazer to-day, dealing with the freezing workers' award. "It is certainly a factor that cannot be ignored by any wage-fixing tribunal, but nooody would assert that it is the only, factor to be considered. It does, howover, bulk more largely in the case of the lower-paid workers. The other factors considered are the general financial and economic conditions affecting trado and industry, tho rates Of wages generally paid to workers of similar grade, and the divisibility of having a definite standard. This Court hag awarded tho general labourer a rato of wages 60 per cent, above the 1914 rate, an increase that corresponds roughly with the increase r\ tho cost of living since that year, but it has not granted the same percentage increase to the more highly-paid workers. It has soug7it to fix minimum rates that, while being fair to the workers, will not be so high as to preclude an employer from paying higher rates to workers who are deserving of consideration, or to be oppr sive in times of slackness of trade. It was uot until September, 1925, that the Court decided that it was possible to raise tho general unskilled basic rate tn an amount that would fully compensate for tho increased coßt of living, and it did so only after a very full consideration of all tho factors involved, as will be seen on reference to the pronouncement of 15th September 1925." '