NEW BASIC WAGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 168, 17 June 1936, Page 10

NEW BASIC WAGE

TASK FOR ARBITRATION COURT. ALL AWARDS AFFECTED. (Bv Telegraph.—Special to Standard.) WELLINGTON, June 17. Within three months from June 8, the Arbitration Court, under the terms of the amending legislation of the lecent session, is required to fix a basic wage in respect to all male and female adult workers employed in any industry in which an award or industrial agreement operates. The Court will almost immediately proceed with this dutv, so that its decision will be known long before three months elapse. This is the first occasion in the history of New Zealand’s industrial legislation that the Court has been directed by Statute to fix basic wages, though tiie Australian Courts have been doing so for many years. New Zealand has, however, followed the principle to some extent, and a survey of many past decisions of the Arbitration Court will provide some indication of how the new legislation is likely to be administered. It was assumed bv the Court in the days prior to the recent Act that the lowest wage—that paid to an unskilled worker—should not be less than that which would maintain a man, his wife, and two children. This principle was criticised considerably because it did not square with social facts, as approximately one-third of the workers under awards arc unmarried, while there is exact statistical evidence that the size of the average New Zealand family is something less than one child. Marriage, and large families, should be encouraged by the new legislation, for it states •.

“The basic rate of wages for adult male workers shall be such a rate as would, in the opinion of the Court, be sulficient to enable a man in receipt thereof to maintain a wife and three children in a fair and reasonable standard of comfort.”

It is interesting to note that while the Statute directs the Court to fix the basic wage for female workers, the standard to be applied is left to the Court’s discretion. What the Court did prior to the general order for reduction of wages in 1932 was to place females in an internuniiate position between the male worker and the junior. As this worked out, if the male worker was awarded an increase of ss, the Court gave female workers 3s, and juniors Is 6d. Another important phase of the basic rate question is that the former minimum was that lo be paid to an unskilled worker. This gave a startingpoint for assessing the wage of the skilled and semi-skilled employee, and the general practice of the Court was to award to the skilled worker about 5d per hour more than the unskilled rate, though there were variations according to the trades concerned. The semi-skilled man got an intermediate rate

The basic rate, when the Arbitration Court, having no statutory direction, adopted the principle and assessed the family at two children, was £3 17s lOd per week. Now an additional child must be taken into consideration, also the condition of trade or industry the financial and economic position o t the Dominion, and tho cost of living. Whatever the Court decides will operate,- on. a date it fixes, in resueet to all awards and agreements.