SLIDING WAGE SCALE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 134, 4 December 1930, Page 10

SLIDING WAGE SCALE

BASED ON PRODUCE PRICES

DAIRYMEN'S VIEWS

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, 3rd December. The great cause of the- position as regarded wages in certain industries had been brought about by themselves, said Mr. J. Christie at a meeting of dairymen this afternoon called to consider the question of wages paid to factory assistants and other matters affecting the industry. High wages had been paid by certain employers, he said, and the Arbitration Court had taken them as standard. The shearers' award, however, at the present time was based on the price oi! wool, and sheep were being shorn at a lower rate than last year. He thought the remedy for the existing state of affairs would be to have a sliding scale of wages on the prices of products. He moved: "That the Arbitration Act be amended in the direction of providing for compulsory conciliation and optional arbitration." The motion was carried. Mr. F. Waite, M.P., reiterated a statement that the Arbitration Court was only one of the things which they had to consider. All sorts of costs were increasing—interest. Government taxation, and local bodies' taxation. Parliament would not meet till June, and they must act right away. All over New Zealand industries were closing down because they could not carry on. Sawmilling businesses in Otago and Southland were closing down this month because they could not sell their timber. He moved: "That the (Jovernment be asked to call together at the earliest moment a, national economic conference representative of the primary producers, manufacturers, financial institutions, and employees to decide on some methods of reducing overhead costs so that the industries of the country may continue." Mr. Bobertson seconded the motion, which was carried.