BIG AUCKLAND HARBOUR WORKS

Grey River Argus, 28 October 1948, Page 5

BIG AUCKLAND HARBOUR WORKS

AUCKLAND, Oct. 27 The intention of the Auckland Harbour Board, before the expiry of the award about to be made, to embark on a £1,300,000 job requiring the employment of between 40 and 50 carpenters for concrete boxing, was mentioned by the board’s representative, Mr J. ft. Sutton, in submissions to the Arbitration Court in Auckland to-day. He was contesting the provision being sought by. the New Zealand Carpenters’ and Joiners’ Union under a new award, dealing particularly with the margin between the wage rates for skilled and unskilled labour.

“The carpenters required will not be available living within one and ahalf miles of the job,” said Mr Sutton. “As in the past we shall probably promote a number of labourers to be carpenters. These men are not skilled tradesmen and yet in many cases they are more satisfactory for this class of work." Mr Sutton commended the suggestion already made by the Court to have two classes of carpenters on two appropriate rates of pay—highly skilled tradesmen and a man suitable for the rougher type of work but who could not be classed as a skilled tradesman.