DRIVERS' DISPUTE

Evening Star, Issue 16265, 7 November 1916, Page 5

DRIVERS' DISPUTE

CAUSES OF THE TROUBLE. AN INTERESTING POSITION. It was reported in our Stop Press cob mn yesterday that serious trouble is threatened in connection with the Arbitration Court award in (ho Auckland - drivers' dispute, the men complaining that, after waiting 12 months for the Court's decision, the new conditions are so unsatisfactory that - hey refuse tp submit to the terms of 'he award ; that the union passed a resolution expressing the opinion that the Court had failed to make fair and reasonable provision in accordance with the weight of evidence ; that the Court have no longer the confidence of this body of workers; that the Court's decisions show prejudice strongly in favor of the Employes' Federation ;" that the Government, be urged to appoint a Commission to inquire into the alleged unjust treatment of drivers by the Court. The message also contained the information that an appeal was to bo made to the Auckland organisation of transport workers for co-operation in the natter. Curiously enough (and this is generally taken as a matter of interesting significance) a Wellington message stated that the local union had resolved on Bimilar lines and grounds as to the conditions of the Court's award, had expressed a complete lack of confidence in the impartiality of tho Court, had decided to avoid the Court in the future and had opened negotiations with waterside workers with a view to a working arrangement for the present and ultimate amalgam,- toon. b

The Court s award makes no substantial rioparture from the interim awards which have been made from time to time in connection with drivers' demands throughout the Dominion. The Court, in a memorandum, expressed regret at the delay which had taken place, but pointed out that as no vital change had been made the workers had not been seriously P*' e J u , dl «<k The memorandum contained tho fol owing statement (this apparently being the basis of the workers' allegation that tho Court have favored the employers) :—"Apart from the increase of 4s a week granted to the drivers in an interim award, the carrying trade is subject to considerable burdens in tho shape ot increased cost of materials, attributable to Avar conditions, and the Court therelore, after careful consideration, came to the conclusion that it could not reasonably having regard to all the interests involved, increase those burdens bv a still further increase in the wages "of the workers. The Court has, however, given the workers some relief in connection with i v^ xed question of stable attendance, and has limited the ordinary hours of work to nine a day. The above is the decision of a majority of the Court." The view of employers differs, of course, from that of the unions. One employer in Dunedin asserts, for example, that there was no justification at all even for the increase of wages allowed by the interim awards, owing to the fact that the cost of material used in connection with repairs of equipment—steel, iron, hardwood, saddlery, and paint—has be'e'n increased enormously during the war. In addition to that serious increase in working cost, work has been slack generally, and erratic at its best. Then the workers are employed steadily even- when work is slack, and they are paid for holidays. Employers apparently think that the award is a very good one in the circumstances. FROM THE MEN'S SIDE.

The talk 'in the streets seems to indicate, an opinion that nothing will happen in Dunedin in the way of a move by the workers. An inquiry "in the right quarter shakes that opinion and leaves the whole question open, for as a matter of fact the whole business is to come up for discussion at a meeting of the men next week. Till then nil forecasts as to the mind of the drivers are no more than guesses.