NEW WAGE CLAIMS

Evening Star, Issue 25425, 5 March 1945, Page 4

NEW WAGE CLAIMS

RELAXATION OF STABILISATION ARBITRATION COURT HEARING WORKERS' CASE OPENED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 5. ' Under authority conferred upon it by clause 5 of amendment 5 of the Economic Stabilisation Emergency lle- | gulations, the Court_ of Arbitration today commenced hearing representations by Dominion organisations of employers | and workers on the general question of rates of wages for skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labour. The case for the workers, which is being heard first, embodies claims for an increase of 4£d an hour on the existing standard rates of 2s 9d, 2s 4£d to 2s and 2s 4d for the classes mentioned. Ihe court is also being asked to pronounce on standard rates for female workers in the three categories on the basis of two-thirds of the adult male rates, and also rates for junior workers. The court, consists of Mr Justice Tyndall, Mr W. Cecil Prime (employers' representative), and. Mr A._ L. Monteith (workers' representative). Mr K. Baxter, national secretary of the Federation of Labour, is the leading advocate for the workers, with him Mr F. Allerby, secretary of the New Zealand Drivers' Federation and a member of the National Executive of. the Federation of Labour, and Mr R. Stanley, secretary of the New Zealand Carpenters and Joiners' Union,, and also a member of the Federation of Labour executive. The leading advo- J cate for the employers is Mr W: E. Anderson, secretary of the Auckland] Provincial Employers' Association, who has with him Mr Mountjoy, secretary of the Wellington Employers' Associa- j tion, and Mr A. S. Cookson, secretary of the Otago Employers' Association. ■ Opening the case for the workers, Mr Baxter said they believed that the ! legislature had been prompted by a desire of giving the workers an opportunity to maintain, as far as possible under war-time conditions, a living standard that would not be out of step with that enjoyed by other sections of the community. The amendment indicated that the legislature recognised that serious anomalies had arisen in the general wage structure, and that, in the interests olf the country and for the continued success of stabilisation, those anomalies should be corrected. The amendment was very welcome to workers covered by awards and agreements who had been complaining for the past three years that the increases granted by the Arbitration Court up to April, 1942, were not sufficient to cover the increases in the,prices of the necessaries of life. Since 1937, apart from the court's two general orders covering minor increases to lower-paid workers and the removal of some anomalies, very "little change or advance in respect of any award, industrial agreement, or group of workers had taken place. During that period there had not been any worthwhile' change in the wages system which had been of lasting benefit to the wage-earner. They believed it was possible and practicable to adopt a new approach ,to the economic status of the workers, and to give all workers some degree, of economic security.