TAXI INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 33, 9 February 1939, Page 9

TAXI INDUSTRY

UNIFORM CONTROL

LEGISLATION WANTED

HEARING OF DISPUTE After a day's discussion of the claims and counter-claims in the Dominion taxi-drivers' dispute the Conciliation Council yesterday decided to send a deputation to the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) to try to get the industry brought under uniform control as soon as possible. The award being considered would affect only about 10 per cent, of the taxis, it was stated. Recommendations put forward by a commission which inquired into the taxi business about two years ago had been considered and legislation was ready to make the control uniform. It would be brought down early in the next session of Parliament but would not be put into operation until May, 1940. It is with the object of trying to get the legislation made effective as soon as possible and coincidental with the award that the deputation is to wait on the Minister. Mr. M. J. Reardon, Conciliation Commissioner, presided. Finality was reached yesterday on only a few minor clauses. The hearing is being continued today and tomorrow. Assessors for the applicants were Messrs. P. J. Harris, Wanganui, A. T. Webber, Gisbprne, G. Medway, New Plymouth, R." Taylor, Invercargill, J. M. McTigue, Dunedin, W. Clarkson, Christchurch. Assessors for the employers were Messrs. A. Sinclair, Auckland, S. J. McKenzie, Palmerston North, D. Martin, Wanganui, J. S. Phillips, Dunedin, G. C. Fisher, Invercargill, and H. J. Knight, Wellington. Mr. F. C. Allerby was agent for the employees and Mr. H. Bishop agent for the employers. The employees claimed that a person should be deemed a taxi-driver for the purpose >f the award who either drove a vehicle which plied for hire from a stand or worked from a garage or depot as a private hire vehicle. The employers claimed that the award should apply to driver- employed by taxi proprietors but not to drivers governed by any other award or to telephonists or clerical workers. WAGES CLAIMED AND OFFERED. The employees claimed that, except as otherwise provided, the minimum wages shall be £5 15s, night drivers to receive 5s a week extra. Drivers employed between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. should be deemed to be night drivers. The employers offered wages at the rate of not less than £4 10s a week. The employees claimed that all time worked in excess of the weekly or daily hours prescribed should be overtime, paid for at the rate of. time and a half for the first three hours, and double time thereafter. Any driving in excess of ten hours in any period of twenty-four hours should be considered overtime, and paid for at the rate of 2s an hour, the employers claimed. Drivers in charge of cars on tours extending beyond one day could make special arrangements with their employers in regard to overtime. The employees claimed that drivers should receive and be paid for the following holidays:—New Year's Day, January 2, Anniversary Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the Sovereign's Birthday, Anzac Day, Labour Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and a picnic day. When any of these days fell on a Saturday or Sunday the following Monday or Tuesday should be observed, and work done on any of these days should be paid for at the rate of time and a half in addition to the weekly wage. In addition, they claimed three consecutive calendar weeks' holiday on pay for each nine months of service. The employers offered an annual holiday of not less than seven days for each employee on the completion of twelve months of service. Referring to the interpretation given by the employees, Mr. Reardon said that an award could only apply between employer and employee. The matter was left for later consideration. Mr. Bishop said they could not give a 40-hour or a five-day week. Many drivers were already getting more than £4 10s a week, said Mr. Allerby. It was said that many drivers we.re over-working to do this and sleeping in their cars. "These men are not sleeping in their cars," Mr. Allerby said. "£4 10s is not a labourer's wage." Surely the proprietors wanted a good type of man in the industry, he said, but they were not attracting them. Mr. Bishop said that the problem of the employer in the industry was a serious one. The problem of the employer was to get men as cheaply as he could, said Mr. Allerby. It was common for over 100 hours a week to be worked today by men drawing wages. In suggesting that a deputation wait on Mr. Semple, Mr. Knight said the award would cover only about 10 per cent, of the number of taxis, and a certain percentage of the men who owned cabs and who employed one man on the alternate shift. They could see the small effect the award would have on the industry. If the award was based solely on the union's claims it would have a serious effect on the industry. The industry was anxious to improve the conditions on lines applicable to the whole. Mr. Semple had promised to bring the industry under the Transport Licensing Act, but owing to the pressure of other business in Parliament the legislation had not been brought down last session, said Mr. Knight. Mr. Semple had promised, that the matter would be one of the first to be dealt with this year. They were told, however, that even if it was passed this year the Minister could not see his way to have it operating until May, 1940. The industry would have conditions applying to one section of it through the award while it waited for the remainder to be brought under control. He considered that a deputation should go to Mr. Semple and give him the views from both sides as they saw it and see if he could not get the industry brought under control immediately. It would be of advantage to the industry, the workers, and the owner-drivers. It was essential that there should be uniformity in these things. Mr. Allerby said that the employees were prepared to co-operate to the full. They wanted to co-operate to see that the recommendations of the Commission set up to look uto the industry were put into effect by the Minister. They felt that if they could go to him and get the recommendations put into effect it would be a protection for the industry, the worker, and the employers. The employers seemed to think, Mr. Allerby said, that the workers were going to make conditions too hard for them and that they were going to be driven back to the "Rafferty rules" of the past. When the Commission had made its recommendations about two years ago, the industry had been given eighteen months in which to put its

house in order, but they were still practically in the same position. It was their own fault, as they had done nothing. Replying, Mr. Bishop said that the recommendations of the Commission had not given them much chance to put their house in order. Mr. Sinclair said that the time they were given to put their house in order was after the legislation was passed. Mr. Knight said that they had thought the legislation would have been out last year. In Invercargiil, said Mr. Fisher, all the proprietors had given the suggestions of the Commission three months' trial. The industry was ready and waiting for the legislation, the employers said. It was finally decided to send a deputation to Mr. Semple to get uniformity of control in the taxi indus-

try as early as possible.