THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 21286, 15 December 1932, Page 19

THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

[By J.S.S.]

Brief contributions on matters with reference to the Labour Movement are invited. DRIVERS’ DISPUTE, Messrs F. Goodwin and J. H. Kirkwood represented the Dunedin employers #iid Mr W. Herbert the workers at the abortive Conciliation Council ivtbeting in Wellington last week, called to discuss terms for a new award for dominion drivers. The workers ashed for a general working week of forty hours, and the employers required one of forty-eight hours. The daily working hours the workers’ representatives asked, should not exceed eight on five days of the week, nor four on the day of the weekly halfholiday. Against this the employers’ proposal was as follows: —“If more than nine and a-ha!f hours’ work

. . . is done in any one day, any excess beyond nine and a-half hours and the specified attendance to horses or motor vehicles shall be paid for at overtime rates.”

For drivers employed by aerated water and cordial makers, ice cream manufacturers, and others engaged in seasonal trades, the employers sought optionally a working week of fiftytwo hours from November 1 to April 30, and of forty-four hours from May 1 to October 31. The corresponding workers’ proposal was that at the option of the employer, drivers employed by aerated water and cordial makers and by proprietors of cheese and butter factories might be employed during the corresponding periods for forty-four hours and thirty-six hours a week respectively. Minimum wages for different classes of. driver as proposed by the workers, with the corresponding employers’ proposals in .parentheses, were as follow: For those driving and attending one horse, £4 8s (£3 16s); for those driving and attending two horses, £4 11s (£4); for those driving motor vehicles which, with their maximum load, did not weigh more than two tons, £4 Us (£3_ 16s); for drivers of motor vehicles which, with their load, did not weigh more than four tons, £4 13s 6d (£3 18s 6d); similarly, where the weight did not exceed five and a-half tons, £4 16s (£4 Os 6d) ; similarly for ten tons, £5 (£4 4s); for drivers of motor vehicles which, with their load, weighed more than 10 tons, £5 3s (£4 6s_6d); tractor drivers, £4 15s (£4); drivers of tractors used for road-mak-ing, £5 4s (Is 9d an hour). The employers’ proposed rate, £4, for drivers of two-horse vehicles was intended to remain the same if more than two horses were driven, but the workers proposed that an extra rate of 9d a day or 4s a week should be paid for each horse above two. All the rates proposed by the employers were to be subject to a reduction of 10 per cent. Other important differences existed in the clauses relating to the employment of youths. The employers asked for permission to employ youths over the age of 16, and the workers provided for the youths to be eighteen or over, except for those employed by bakers. The rates proposed by the employers were as follow: —16 to 17, £1; 17 to 18, £1 ss; 18 to 19, £1 12s 6d; 19 to 20, £2; 20 to 21, £2 10s. The rates suggested by the workers were as follow:—-18 to 19, £2 ss: 19 to 20, £2 12s 6d; over 20, adult Tates. The employers' proposed that the number of youths employed should not exceed one to each employer and one additional youth to each fullypaid driver. The corresponding workers’ proposal was that the number should be one to each employer employing at least one fully-paid driver and one to each three additional fully-paid drivers.

The workers asked for holidays on New Year’s Day, January 2, Anniversary Day, Good Friday. Easter Monday, Sovereign’s Birthday, Labour Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and on a picnic day chosen by mutal arrangement. The employers’ schedule of holidays was the same, except that January 2 and Anniversary Day, were omitted, • * p • NEW RATES OP PAY. The new rates of pay for female workers eriiployed in private hotels, which have just been fixed by the Arbitration Court, are the first order of the kind made under the amended Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Tho parties, the New Zealand Federated Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ Association had failed to reach a settlement before the Conciliation Council, and after the award had been cancelled an application was filed by the association for an order fixing the minimum rates of wages for female workers. The court heard both parties, and its order* which affects the whole of the dominion, except Stewart Island, came into operation on December 4. Mr Justice Frazer, in a memorandum, states that the, principal alteration in the classification of workers, as existing under the former award, was the separation of cooks from kitchenmaids. “ The rates of wages for cooks will in future depend on the number of cooks employed in the kitchen. . . . In general, the rates of wages are somewhat lower than those prescribed under the expired award. In the case of tho kitchen staffs the reductions have in some cases been offset to some extent by changes in the classification, The court has departed from the rates fixed by the expired award, and has endeavoured to arrive at rates that can reasonably be paid by the industry, and at the same time afford a reasonable standard of living to the workers.” The new schedule of wages is:— Where five or more cooks are employed —first cook, £3 17s 6d per week; second

cook, £2 17s 6d; third cook, £2. Where four cooks are employed—first cook, £3 7s 6d ; second cook, £2 ss; third cook, £1 15s. Where three cooks are employed—first cook, £2 17s Cd; second cook, £2. Where two cooks are employed—first cook, £2 ss; second cook, £1 15s. Whore one cook is employed, if number of workers in establishment exceeds three, £2; if number of workers do not exceed three, £1 15s. Other cooks, £1 12s Cd. Kitchenmaids, £1 10s; first year, £l. Waitresses, house-maid-waitresses, housemaids, pantrymaids, relieving maids, linen maids. £l ss; first year. 15s. Plead waitresses, employed as such when three or more waitresses are employed. £1 7s Cd. laundresses. £1 7s Cd; general hands, £1 12s Cd. Casual workers employed for less than one week, 50 per cent, above pro rata weekly rates. All the rates mentioned include board and lodging. If board is not provided, the wages shall be increased by 16s per week, and if lodging is not provided the wages shall be increased by 8s per week. A Gil E EMENT REACHED. Agreement was reached recently between the Wellington Metal Trades Union (engineers, moulders, boilermakers, and metal workers’ assistants) and the four main firms, Luke Bros. Ltd., W. Cable and Co. Ltd., the Union Steam Ship Company Ltd., and the Wellington Patent Slip Company Ltd. All the men affected by the dispute, which had been in progress since October 6, have resumed work. Altogether about 300 men are employed by the four firms mentioned. The agreements are to be made into a comprehensive agreement for ratification by the Arbitration Court. Several abortive Conciliation Council meetings were held in connection with the dispute, the last being about sij: weeks ago. A number of other firms have been employing unionists under the terms of the expired awards pending fresh agreements, which will now be entered into as soon as possible.

CHANGES IN TRANSPORT,

Addressing the Conciliation Council in the dominion drivers’ dispute, heard in Wellington last week, Mr R. Parlane (worker’s representative) said that the workers asked in their proposals for a reduction in hours of work each week. In no industry, he said, had machinery made more difference than in the transport industry, where, as a result of development, some vehicles now might do ten times the work of the old horse-drawn vehicle. The volume of transport had not decreased, but firms which had formerly employed perhaps sixty men now employed about a dozen. This being so, shorter hours should be possible. The workers’ request for restitution of the 10 per cent, cut was based on the argument that it was necessary to preserve the spending power of the workers, who were the majority of the Eeople. The request for an annual ohday was long overdue, Mr Parlane said, and the industry was one of the few that had never had it. Mr Bishop said that an agreement between the parties was earnestly desired by the employers, although they were not prepared to pay for it unduly. Although in their proposals the old award iiad been in some respects departed from, the motive throughout had been that of effecting economies. Employers were finding it difficult to maintain their output and turnover and to pay wages. In this they were affected by the increasing competition of the. small owner-driver, who was outside their control. • • • • CO-OPERATION URGED, An appeal for better co-operation between schools and businesses and more interest in the problems of the young worker was made by the principal of the Greymouth Technical School (Mr M'Laren) at the annual break-up ceremony, in the course of his annua] report on the work done during 1932. His remarks arose out of the fact that one-third of the whole school were seniors, which he described as an ominous portent, since there were boys anil girls fit for industry and commercial careers who could not get a beginning in life. “Apprenticeship in the various trades and commercial concerns is at a standstill,” said the principal. “Apprenticeship is essentially a branch of education, and it is this fact—this lack of cohesion between schools and businesses—that is, in a degree, responsible for the dearth of occupations at present and will be in the prosperous times to come. We know times are bad and in many industries the craftsman has become a mere machinefeeder, yet our system appears to be something like this.” _ The speaker said that the apprentice was often expected to “pick up” the trend of his work from a sometimes antagonistic journeyman or employer. After a full day’s work, to better himself, he attended technical classes at an evening school for certificate purposes. The consequence was that evening classes—especially in the smaller towns—were very poorly attended. Interest in the young worker evaporated and a monotonous existence followed. Cohesion and co-opera-tion were lost and often the best community service was withered at the flowering stage. “I am putting forth this idea for the young workers on whom this country and all countries depend,” said the principal. “ There seems to be a general lack of interest in him, just at the time when encouragement counts for most. What chance has he in comparison with his fellow in England or America, where, in the bigger factories, part-time schools exist and trained teachers and craftsmen devote their whole time to him? For the lasting benefit, then, of these boys and girls about to leave school it is encumbent upon employers, employees’ unions, and educational authorities to concentrate upon some scheme by which these stu-dent-workers are to be saved for their own and their country’s sakes.”