The Painters' Dispute.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 494, 12 February 1908, Page 2

The Painters' Dispute.

The result of the appeal by the Pain- , ters' Union to the Conciliation Board at Palmerston cannot by any means bo said to be likely to encourage further attempts to disturb the existing state of things, for, practically, the only advantage on tho old award is that the apprentices receive a slightly higher rate of pay. As, however, it is difficult to get apprentices at all, this is not a material matter. So far as the employers were concerned, the one point they did concede was, ; strange paradox as it seems, in their favour. For country work, for instance, an extra allowance was given under the old award of Is per day The new demands asked for Is 6d per day, but as the men- were paid ' overtime at the rate of one-fourth extra for all hourß worked over eight hours, and the new agreement fixes ten hours as the minimum in the 1 country, tho men actually are paid twopence less for the ton hours than was fixed under the old award. Besides that, the employers have been able to get a preference for employers \ clause inserted, and painters must first apply to employers belonging to the i newly-formed union before they can ' take' on employment with non-emplOy-j ers. The demands of the men included an increase of lsd per hour in i wages, stopping work between Christj mas Eve and 2nd January, and an alj lowance of Is 6d per week for I "bicycle allowance." AH these point* were abandoned, so that it would have been much better for the , men it they had allowed the old agreement to stand. This result, it must bo remembered, has been achieved at a conference between the employers and the men, in conjunction with the Conciliation Board, so that it cannot .be said that it haß been the result of pressure from the Arbitration Court or that the men did not recognise that they had made demands which would not stand the scrutiny of discussion and investigation".