LIME WORKS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4872, 18 July 1936, Page 4

LIME WORKS

EMPLOYEES' HOURS. CASE BEFORE THE COURT. An application by lime manufacturing companies for an extension of the weekly hours from 40 to 44 was opposed by the representatives of the employees in the Court of Arbitration on Thursday , afternoon. The parties conferred for a long time before the Courts sat, but were unable to reach an agreement. It vras an extremely difficult case, said Mr. W. E. Anderson (who appeared for the employers) for the reason that practically every manufacturer seemed to be working under a different set of conditions. Each he thought, would have to be dealt with separately. Mr. P. M. Butler appeared for one section of the workers, and Mr. J. Roberts for another. There were three awards in New Zealand at the present time covering lime workers, said Mr. Anderson, who referred to the provisions of the three awards governing hours of work. The employers asked for a 44-hour week for six months in each year for workers employed in the manufacturing of. carbonate of lime and shell lime, each employer to have the right to select his busy season and notify the inspector of factories as to the six months of the year during which he desired to work a 44-hour week. The manufacture of burnt lime, continued Mr. Anderson, was a more or less continuous process, and for employees engaged in the manufacture of such lime.a 44-hour week was applied for all the year round. The employers were also asking for an extension of the period of continuous work without a meal from 4 x /4 hours to 8 hours in the case of shift workers.

Evidence was given on behalf of the manufacturers by Messrs. Alexander Wilson (Te Kuiti Lime Company, Ltd), Harold William Amner (manager of the Amner Lime Company, Napier), Montague Harrison Wynyard (director of the Hangatiki Lime Company and chairman of directors of Lime Sales Distribution Company), Francis W. L. Milne (director of the Kopu Calcined Shell Lime Company, Ltd.), H. M. Carr (chairman of directors of of the Waikari Lime Works), J. F. Grant (chairman of directors of the Doherty Lime Works, Centre Bush, Southland), and James Mulcare (chairman of directors of the West Coast Farmers' Co-operative Lime Producing Company).

Mr. Butler said that in 1927-28 there were 27 lime and cement works employing 915 workers, who were paid £218,017;" in 1934-35 there'were 50 establishments employing 704 workers, who were paid £144,617. It would be seen that, because of the free cartage, the speculator had jumped in and there were now a number of uneconomic concerns engaged in price cutting. The number of workers engaged had been reduced and the wages had been cut down. Decision was reserved.