SKILLED LABOUR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21853, 25 October 1945, Page 6

SKILLED LABOUR

PREMIUM ON TRADES R.T.A. DISAPPOINTMENT FINDINGS OF TRIBUNAL (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 24. “Members of the Railway Trades Association will be gravely disappointed at the failure of the Railway Tribunal to assess properly the relative value of the trained artisan, and to realise the necessity of providing an adequate margin of remuneration for skilled labour,” said Mr. T. F. Gebbie, general secretary of the association, to-day. The tribunal, he said, had had two opportunities of recognising the tradesman’s claim for an improvement in his relative position, and it was significant that on both occasions the workers nominee on the tribunal, a different member in each case, had dissented from the majority decision in respect of the tradesman’s margin. In spite of this the tribunal had continued to assist in perpetuating a condition which had resulted in a chronic shortage of skilled labour in many important trades. The association, however, would continue to press for a proper realisation of the relative value of a tradesman’s work. Some of the claims granted could be regarded as substantial gains, said Mr. Gebbie, but it could be said that the impression created among R.T.A. members would be a mixed one, and the failure of some of the major claims would necessitate their being again placed before the tribunal at the first opportunity