AWARD WAGE

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 July 1923, Page 3

AWARD WAGE

SKILLED WORKERS’ POSITION.

(Special to “Star.”)

CHRISTCHURCH, July Z 4. Trade unionists are keenly interested in the latest decision of the Arbitration Court. ‘•The pay of skilled workers is not to be increased,” said a union olliciai this morning. “That is perfectly clear from the terms of the Dominion award under which carpenters and. •joiners will now be employed. We have been waiting for- a. pronouncement on the point for some considerable time as it has been contended there is not enough difference between the standard set for skilled workers in New Zealand and the standard set for unskilled workers. Here, jt is 15 per cent., in America it is as much as 100 per cent. The decision means that there will be a falling off in Arbitration Court litigation, as” members of other skilled trades unions seeing that the carpenters tailed to obtain a rise will not be keen to go to the Court in future. However, we are. in a very peculiar position in this country. The great majority of skilled workers are receiving more than the Arbitration Court wage. That wage is regarded as the minimum, as it should be, a change which has only taken place within the last few years. Carpenters for instance, receive 2s 6d an hour instead of 2s l£d. The reason for this is the shortage of skilled workers, a shortage that, tends to increase. Boys are loth to put up with restrictions of an apprenticeship, consequently they go to swell the ranks of the unskilled, and the men who have knowledge of a trade, can get almost anv wage they like. It will therefore be’seen that the Court’s decision will not lower production cost such as in housebuilding. The wages of carpenters are a matter of supply and demand. The Court has already expressed the opinion that there is not vide enough margin between the wage of skilled man and the wage of unskilled man. It will now be interesting to see whether it will proceed to lower the rate fixed for the unskilled. Tn that direction, however, there is an obstacle. The fair living wage is regarded by the Court as about £3 17s a week. It cannot go below that anyway. The whole wage position in New Zealand has some curious features. Particularly beneficial to the worker is the increasing acceptance of the award rate as the bare minimum, not as the maximum.