PRINTER'S PAY.

Northern Advocate, 9 January 1920, Page 4

PRINTER'S PAY.

bONUS INCREASED,

COURT TAKES COMT OF L.IVING-

INTO ACCOUNT

The Arbitration Court has tiled an amendment of the New Zealand typog.aphers ' a waid. The bonus is to be increased by lis (id per week to all journeymen except pieceworkers, but this increase shall nol be subject to the conditions referring to the output, of linotype operators. In addition to the rates provided in the award, pieceworkers shall be paid a bonus of 4s per week. From January Ist the hours of work of men employed iv the hand section and those who at present work fortyeight hours per week in the machine sect ion shall be reduced to forty-live nours per week. Work on .Saturday night special editions is to be paid for at the rate of lis tid per hour on time, or at piecework rates, at the option of the employer, with a minimum of 7s fid. Hand pieceworkers shall be paid an additional M per 1000 ens. All time worked beyond the hours prescribed by the award (as amended) shall be paid for at the rate of time-and-a-half for the first three hours and thereafter at double time rates, except in the case of pieceworkers. In a memorandum the court says that on March 14th, 1917, it made an award which embodies without alteration the recommendations of the Conciliation Council, which the parties agreed to accept. On March 7, 1919, the court increased the bonus by 7s Cd per week to all journeymen except pieceworkers. This order embodied the terms of an agreement arrived at by the representatives of the parties at a conference held at the end of Fcbru-

ary. The union now applied for various increases, including the increase of the bonus by £2 2s (id per week and the provision of a bonus of 30 per cent, to pieceworkers. It also wished tne bonus included in the overtime computation. The special grounds on which tho application for an amendment of the award were made included the unsatisfactory nature of the agreement of March 7, 1919; the increased cost of living; the prosperity of the industry; the improved conditions granted like workers in other countries; the increased wages and the improved condition given other New Zealand workers. The court said that as the award had only three months to run it would seem unreasonable to open the agreement. Moreover, it would be creating an exceedingly bad precedent if, after the parties had arrived at an agreement at a conference of their reprsentatives, the court were, at the instance of one of the parties, to attempt to review that agreement on the ground that the terms arrived at were unsatisfactory. would be futile to hold conferences if they were not to be treated as binding, except where unfair dealing or error was established. ' The court, therefore, declined to' consider the question of whether the agreement was of an "unsatisfactory nature." The other grounds of the application, except that of the increased cost of living, could not bo entertained. It seemed that the basic wages of the workers in this industry were not commensurate with the high degree of skill required of them, and that they compared unfavourably in this respect with the present wages of workers in other skilled trades. This, however, was a mater that, could only properly be dealt, with on the making of a new award and after hearing the contentions of all parties concerned. It remained for the court to deal with the ground of the increased cost of living since the order of March 7, 1919. This was a legitimate ground for an amendment of the award, and as the recent investigations of the Government Statistician indicated that for tho six months ended on September 30 last there had been an increase in the cost of living to adult workers of 4s per week, the court had made an order increasing wages accordingly..