LABOURER'S HIRE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 68, 17 September 1930, Page 12

LABOURER'S HIRE

INCREASE NOT GRANTED

A RISE UNJUSTIFIED

PRODUCTION RESULTS

Wages have not been increased in the Wellington Builders, Contractors, and General Labourers' Award, which has been tiled in the Arbitration Court. In a memorandum to the- award, his Honour Mr. Justice Frazer states: "With a few exceptions, this award follows the lines of the expired award. The principal matter in dispute was wages. A majority of the Court cannot see its way to increase wages at the present time. The present rates were fixed when the cost of living figures were higher than they are now. Even though the basic rate may appear to be low, there is evidence that employers generally treat the minimum rate as a true minimum, especially in the city of Wellington, and pay higher rates to many of their employees. This, however, does not amount to proof of the possibility of raising the basic wage for the whole district. It is impossible to increase the basic rate for the unskilled labourer, for, as was pointed out in the memorandum to the expired award, wages are, in the ultimate analysis, ■ paid out of production, and the results of production do not justify any increase. "The minimum rate, in such circumstances, is not a matter of ethics, but of practical possibilities, and the Court is satisfied that it is impracticable to raise the basic rate at present, for an increase in that rate would have repercussions. in almost every trade." MB. MONTEITH DISSENTS. The following dissenting opinion is recorded by Mr. A. L. Monteith (employees' representative): "I am not in agreement with the wage rates awarded. The whole province of Canterbury has had (by agreement of the parties) a minimum rate of Is lid since Ist February, 1926, over four and a half years. The evidence showed that workers lost considerable time because of wet weather and intermittent employment. Men who received from 2s to 2s 3d per hour only averaged about c€ 37s to £3 10s per week. In fact, the position is to-day the same as recorded by me in Volume XXVI.,'p. 656. Tlie Wanganui Harbour Board is today paying Is lid, and I believe the Court should have made the Wangauui Harbour Board rate Is lid." The award provides for a week of not more than forty-six hours, unless otherwise specified. In tunnel work the hours shall not exceed eight hours per shift, with half an hour for "crib" i time. Six hours shall constitute a day's work in tunnel work in wet places or foul air, and a full week's work for labourers employed in connection with building operations shall be forty-four hours. KATES OF PAY. The rates of pay are: Labourers engaged on actual construction of scaffolds, not less than 2s Id an hour while -so employed; laborers assisting in the erection or demolition of scaffolds or buildings, not less than Is lOd an hour. General labourers: Tunrielmen and timbermen, 2s Id an hour; certified men using explosives in quarry work, Is Hid an hour; all other quarry workers", Is lOd an hour; general labourers working underground or employed at concrete work, pick and shovel work, sewer work, kerbing and channelling work, laying and cleaning drains, Is lOd an hour; asphalt and tar workers, Is lid an hour. Men employed in sinking shafts, samps, or pier holes over Bft in depth shall be paid the following extra payments: Over Bft and up to and inclusive of 12ft, 2d an hour; over 12ft and up to and inclusive of 20ft, 3d an hour; over 20ft, the lastmentioned rate, plus Id an hour additional for every 7ft over 20ft.