GOLD MINERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 132, 7 June 1939, Page 13

GOLD MINERS

CLAIMS FOR AWARD

OFFER OF 40-HOUR WEEK

MONDAY TO FRIDAY

An offer of a' 40-hour week in shifts from Monday to. Friday inclusive for men working underground was made by the workers' assessors at the continuation of the conciliation council proceedings in the dispute between the employers and the gold mines employees in the northern and Westland districts today. The original claim was for a 35-hour week, and the amendment stipulated payment of overtime at the rate of time and a half for the first three hours and double time thereafter. The offer was still under consideration by the employers' assessors at the luncheon adjournment.

When the hearing was resumed this morning Mr. T. O. Bishop, agent for the employers, said that they were quite prepared to follow the set-out of the claims in their discussions. If the parties could reach an- agreement on that basis, well and good, but otherwise the employers would go to the Court on their own submissions. "After all, we are trying to make a Dominion award," he said, "and we think we have gone much further in that direction than the claims have gone. What really concerns us, however, is getting an agreement if we can."

The Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. S. Ritchie) said he thought it was recognised that there might be differences in the conditions of employment in the various mines, but the main thing was to get a settlement, and they could then decide how that settlement was to be expressed.

Mr. J. Roberts, agent for the workers, agreed with this view, but said his experience was that if the parties did not come to an agreement the Court would send them back and say that they had to reach a settlement. Mr. Bishop's statement would help considerably in coming to an agreement, at least so far as conditions of employment were concerned.

The reason for asking for a 35-hour week for men working underground, Mr. Roberts continued, was that the •men considered that between the change of shifts there should be a break of an hour to clear the mine of smoke and foul air. Another argument was that it was recognised that underground work was most unhealthy and the men sooner or later contracted phthisis.

Mr. Bishop said that they all knew what the answer of the Court would be. The Court had not been influenced by the arguments advanced, and the employers' assessors were not prepared to make the concession asked i for. SATURDAY WORK. ! Mr. Roberts said that he would reserve the right to take the question of a 35-hour week to the Court unless an agreement could be reached. In some mines men were working on Saturday morning at ordinary rates of pay. The workers' assessors would ! not agree to a continuance of that state of affairs, but they were willing to agree to a 40-hour week, to be worked from Monday to Friday inclusive,, any jwork on Saturday to be paid for at overtime rates. That was their final and definite offer. The provision for Saturday morning work was made in the first place to give the employers an opportunity to reorganise the work during the transition period between the 44-hour week and the 40-hour week. Sufficient time had now elapsed, he thought, for the provision to be unnecessary. He agreed that the Court probably would not grant a 35-hour week, and the workers would not agree to other than the hours, wages, and conditions of a five-day, 40-hour week, which was being worked in a j number of mines at present. i

Mr. Bishop said that before the employers' assessors could retire with any hope of doing any good they wanted to get a comprehensive picture of the whole position. They might want to put forward counter-proposals.

Reference was made to the "plus" shift ending at 8 a.m. on Saturday, and it was agreed that there was a contradiction in the current provisions made by the Court as regards work from -Monday to Friday inclusive.

Mr. Roberts: When the Waihi people went to the Court last time they claimed that they had had no time to organise for a 40-hour week.

Mr. R. G. Milligan (an employers' assessor): That is not right at all. The Court did not give that "plus" shift because of any question of reorganisation.

Mr. Roberts said it had been stated that it was difficult to organise for a shorter working week and the Court introduce a time and a quarter rate for the "plus" shift at Waihi. He claimed that there had been ample time to increase the plant for the shorter week and obviate the need for the extra shift. BROKEN TIME. During the discussion on hours, the question of proportionate wages being paid for partly-worked days came up. For the employers it was contended that where a full shift was not worked the wages paid should be proportionate to the time worked.

Mr. Roberts contended that whenever a man went down the mine he should be allowed a full day's pay, unless it was the man's fault that he did not work the eight hours.

It had been the custom in coal and gold mines to pay for the proportion of the shift worked, said Mr. Bishop. This was for many reasons. It would be a heavy burden on the companies to have to pay full time when only part of the shift was worked, because of matters entirely beyond the control of the company concerned. In the case of coal mines trucks i'oi? trains might not be brought in according to schedule. The work in- the mine would be stopped, but it would be the fault of neither the company nor the men. The custom had been to take the shift wages in such cases at the hourly rates.

Mr. Roberts said that when the Court of Arbitration had first made the clause it had intended that eight hours should be paid for, but somehow the eight hours had been made divisible, which was never the Court's intention.

Mr. Bishop: It can only be decided in the light of custom.

Mr. Roberts: If a clause in an award directs,- and the employer does not carry it out he commits a breach of the award, so custom does not enter into the matter. When a man goes to work for the day he should be paid in full, provided it is not his fault that the stoppage of work occurs.

Mr. Bishop: In the case of a breakdown of machinery, a reasonable minimum of, say, two hours might be paid.

Mr. J. McGregor (Reefton), one of the assessors for the applicants, said that under the present arrangement the worker lost at both ends, whether in starting or stopping late through no fault of his own. Mr. Roberts asked the employers to consider further the point, raised. STUDENT ENGINEERS. The question of the admission of youths to gold mines for the purpose

of undergoing their practical training for the profession of mining engineering was raised by correspondence from the Department of Mines, in view of tl^e objections taken by unions to youths under 21 working underground. It was stated that the students commenced their practical training from about the age of 17.

Speaking on this question, Mr. J. Thorpe, workers' assessor from Waihi, said that while there was a mooted objection to youths under 21 commencing to work permanently underground, there was no objection whatever to students securing their practical, training for a short period only. It had been found at Waihi that the phthisis was most prevalent amongst those who had commenced to work underground before they were 21. Older men seemed to resist this miners' disease better. It was generally, agreed by the. workers' assessors that no objections would be raised to students entering gold mines for training under 21 years of age. . ....•■ (Proceeding,)