Another Lesson in Arbitration.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 72, 26 July 1912, Page 12

Another Lesson in Arbitration.

By H. E. HOLLAND

When I read in the Year Book that latit year so many cases had been wholly settled by the Conciliation i; ( .-..-)« ..uid ho uiiiny otb-'r cases pari I \ oettled, J wondered what "wholly settled" rntwut.

I iliavo just discovered

Hero at Christchurch the Conciliation. Board has WHOLLY SETTLED the hairdressers' claim tor shorter hours, hotter wages, etc.

The hairdressers went to the board, having failed to make terms with tho employers, and ckumocl i.j per ....

The board awarded them £1 ios., h iii< most of them were already getting, a

though the legal minimum was !"_' 10:

Previously, on certain holidays, 1,-ho;. worked till If o'clock. The board extended the ■working hours on suoh holi days to IL' o'clock I

The men wauled to oe.ifce work at > o'clock —as in other trades. The board decreed they must work till >> o'clock with an hour's break for veil.

One concession the board did make. It cut the Saturday .wight's knock-ol! hour down from 10 o'clock to 9.15; hut it put the three-quarters on at the otlie, end. And the barbers are reckoning that it's much the same as with the Irishman whose blanket was too shoii to keep him warm,, and who cut a pice.--off sue end and sewed it on to the other end to make the blanket longer.

New Zealand is, of course, an "eiglit-nours-day" State, but ail the same the barbers' working week is fixed at 5" hours.

And the Christchurch wage-working barbers Inning now nothing out- an additional hour's work on stated holiday: and an imaginary ss. a week ris<>, the master hairdressers are lifting the prioo of haircut-ting from Gil. to [)<!.—■ a rise of 50 per cent, on the item. If the ss. rise to the workers were really more than a rise on paper, it would still only work out at 10 per oent. The rise to the bosses' customers is 50 per cent. for haircuttingl And they are stating that the increase in price is the icsult of the increased wages of their employees!

Tho union's secretary agroed in court! to the terms referred to abovo—and so i tliey become law for two years. Who-! ther the union will endorse its sec-; retary's covenant remains to be seen..

It is argued that if the Conciliation Board's terms had been rejected, and the case had passed along to the Simian Arbitration Court, the barbers would have f ared worse.

And to mc this seems an unanswerable argument in favor of the Chris tchuroh barbers refusing to further permit the masters, either per medium of conciliation or so-called arbitration, to fix their wages and conditions.

Revolutionary methods are the only methods that are worth while, and the first thing the barbers of Chrisu-hurch should do is to se<-edi> from the Court, join in with the Federation of Labor, and set out to secure better immediate conditions (the. most important of which is reduced hoursj by the strength of their economic organisation, and with the ultimatf objective oi' all the world's wealth for all the world's workers.