FARM WORKERS

Grey River Argus, 24 April 1937, Page 2

FARM WORKERS

WAGES QUESTION

DUNEDIN, April 21,

Hon F- Waite, in announcing the

increase in the guaranteed price for dairy produce said the dairy farm worker’s wage would be advanced to £2/5/- a week, with keep, from the present figure of £2 2s 6d. Referring to the negotiating of a new agreement for farm workers’ other than those on dairy farms. Mr Waite said the Minister had power by

Regulations, to extend the provisions of the Agricultural Workers Act, passed

last session, to farms other than dairy farms- It had been made perfectly plain that, if an agreement commensurate with that Act were not reached, an award of the Arbitration Court would be made“Representatives of the New Zealand Workers’ Union at the discussion asked fori the classification of all farm labour,” Mr Waite added. “We would not agree to that, nor would we

agree to a clause providing for prefer-

ence to unionists, which in reality was compulsory unionism. In the fruit farm workerts ’ agreement, there is a stipulation that when a man has been working for four weeks he autmatically

becomes a member of the union and his employer has to deduct the union fees from his wages' and forward them I to union headquarters. We objected to that-

I “The new agreement was on all fours with the Agricultural Workers’ Act,” Mr Waite continued. The hours of labour were not prescribed- Eighteen days holiday was to be given at a time that suited the employer, and the minimum wage was fixed at £2 2/6, with keep, compared with the absolute minimum of £2/18/6, with keep, that could have been secured underi an. award of the Arbitration Court- This rate of £2/2/6 plus 17/6 a week for keep would come into operation in May, 1937, and would be revised on July 31, from which date the rate of wages would be £2/5/- a week for a period oij 12 months-

“Taking it all round, it was not so bad, as theite were freedom, of hours pnd no compulsory unionism,’’ continued Mr Waite. “In the event of there being a fall in the price of wool next year, for instance, we have the right to ask for a reduction of these wages. The wages paid under the Agricultural Workerfs ’ Act are based on the guaranteed price, and if that goes up, the wages of dairy farm workers have to go up.

'We were told that the guaranteed price would go up,” Mr Waite added, “and consequently therte will be a rise in the wages of workers on dairy farms. It is probable that that will also apply to workers on other types of farms. For the next three months, wages will be at the . present level, and when the guaranteed price goes up, wages will follow.”