CONCILIATION BOARD.

Evening Star, Issue 11657, 18 September 1901, Page 4

CONCILIATION BOARD.

The Conciliation Board met this afternoon at 2,30 in the Supreme; Court , TJ» members of the Board present were Messrs G. P. Farquhar (acting-chairman), J. A. Park, 8,.. Ferguson, P. Hally. Owing" to ill-health Mr F. R. Chapman (chairman) was unable to be present. In the bricklayers' dispute the Chairman stated that the following recommendations by the Board would be made:—- v That the parties to the said dispute enterioto an industrial agreement for a period commencing immediately after the. expiry of one month from the filing hereof, and enduring until the- 31st day of May, J9QB, the agreement to contain the foliowinif provisions:— 1. That the week's wofk contsist of fortyfour hours—five dayß of eight hours each, and from 8 a.m. till noon on Saturday. 2. That all journeymen bricklayers be > paid not lens than Is 6d per hour for work done on any day other than-those mentioned in clause" 3 hereof. 3. That time and a-quarter be paid from 5 p.m. until 8 \>.m., and'on Saturday from noon and thereafter time and a-half. Double time after midnight and on the following days, viz.:—New Year's Day, Easter Monday, Good Friday t the King's Birthday, Labor Day, Christmas Day, and all > Sundays. 4. That there be one apprentice allowed to every three journeymen or fraction of three; and that appreutipes be paid the following rates: —For the first year, 10s per week; second year, 15s per week j third year, 20s per week j fourth year, 50s per week; fifth year, 35s per week. 5. That bricklayers be paid weekly and on Saturdays at noon without deduction. 6. Journeymen and apprentices shall be at the place where work is to be performed at the hour appointed for the commencement of work, but if such place is distant more than a mile and a-half from the Chief Post Office in Dunedin each journeyman or apprentice shall be paid the ordinary wages for the time occupied iu going to the work at the rate of four miles for every hour (with a proportionate allowance" for more or less than an hour), however he may proceed thereto, but there shall be deducted from such allowance the time occupied in proceeding for the first mile and a-half from the residence of such journeyman or apprentice. 7. Any journeyman or apprentice employed upon country work Khali be conveyed by his employer to and from Bucb work, free of charge, or. his'travelling expenses going to and returning from such work shall be paid by his employer, but once only during the continuance of the work, if such work be continuous, and the journeyman or apprentice is not in the meantime recalled by his employer. _ *B. Travelling time shall be paid for at ordinary rates, but the day's wage shall not in sucli case exceed this ordinary pay for eight hours. 9. When tho distance requires journeymen or apprentices employed upon country work to sleep away from their homes an . additional allowance of Is per day for the' time so occupied shall be paid to them. 10. Any journeyman who considers himself not capable of earning the minimum wage may be paid such less wage for such period as* may from time to time be agreed upon in writing between any employer and - the president or secretary of the union, such wage to be fixed within twenty-four . hours after such journeyman has made application in that behalf, and in cose of failure to agree such wage for such period as shall be fixed in writing by the chairman of the Conciliation Board after twentyfour hours' notice to tho said chairman, who shall, if desired, hear the applicant and the secretary before fixing such wage and the period for which tho same is'to be fixed. Provided that any wage fixed under this clause shall continue after the expiry of such period until fourteen days have expired after notice shall have been given by the journeyman or the secretary to the other of tbom that he is dissatisfied therewith or desires the same to be again fixed. 11. When union and non-union men work together they shall work in harmony, and shall receive'equal pay for equal work, and in employing or dismissing men employers shall not discriminate between union and non-union men. 12. The Milburn Lime and Cement Com* pany, Limited, and R. Hudson and Co., Limited, and parties who similarly only employ bricklayers to do work in connection with their own factories are exempted from the operation of this agreement. The Chairman added: When this case was first called on before the Board there was no appearance ou behalf of the employers engaged in the building trade, of whom over 120 had been cited. Two per"sons only appeared to claim exemption, '.t is ordinarily a fair inference from such an omission that employers see no ground for being greatly dissatisfied with the demands of the union, but after an adjournment several master builders attended the hearing. As, however, no representative committee was formed, the Board remain under the impression that the assertion of the union that they were not asking for anything substantially differing from the terms as to wages and hours already recognised by the trade is well founded. -With reference to the claim for preference the Board hold themselves bound by the decision of Mr Justice Edwards in the Chrißtchurch engineers' case, 14th July, 1898. The union claimed insertion of the following clause: — "That all piecework known as labor only be abolished." The Board do not see their way to insert this clause. Apart from tho eas'e with which it inisrht be evaded, it presents too rhany difficulties. The Board recommend placing this trade upon approximately the same footing as the plastering trade, but, in view of possible changes, prefer to fix a short time only for the operation of the agreement.