BONUS SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1944, Page 6

BONUS SYSTEM

WORKERS' ATTITUDE

One of the proposals made by the New Zealand Federated Footwear Trade Industrial Association of Workers in the claims .for a new award which were considered in Conciliation Council in Wellington yesterday related to the bonus system. Certain objections on the operation of the system were raised by the representatives oi: the employees. The -.proposal on the subject, which was left in dispute, was as follows:

"No employer shall introduce or operate a bonus system in any factory or department of a factory until and unless the executive of the union has examined and approved of the details of such system. Any employer proposing to institute a bonus system shall permit the fullest investigation of the labour costs and other relevant matters to be made on behalf of .the union executive by an officer of the union, or by a qualified pei'son appointed for that,purpose by.the union executive. Any system in operation at the coming into operation of this award must be ratified by the union executive within 14 days or be suspended, and any employer continuing such system without the approval of the union executive shall be guilty of a breach of the award."

In the matter of wages a claim was made that the minimum rate of pay to all workers, except where otherwise provided, should be increased from 2s 6'id an hour to 3s an hour.','No agreement was reached oh the wages claims, but on certain other matters, which included holidays (according to the Holidays Act) with the- substituting of Anniversary Day as a holiday in lieu of the day after New Year's Day.

The dispute was referred to Vthe Court of Arbitration. The assessors for the employees were: Messrs. W. C McDonnell (Dunedin), agent, A. H. Cooper and W. J. Sandham (Auckland), G. Marston (Lower Hutt), G. Robinson and R. Moore (Christchurch), S. C. Ringrose (Dunedin), and H. Sanders (Wellington). The assessors for the employers were Messrs. J. R. Hanlon (Wellington), agent, N. McKinlay (Dunedin), W. Denby (Wellington), H. J. Luff (Dunedin), R. A. Moore (Auckland), R. A. Marsh (Christchurch), F. R. Whitman (Auckland).