Boot Industry Is Short Of Employees

Northern Advocate, 22 March 1944, Page 4

Boot Industry Is Short Of Employees

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, This Day. An emphatic denial was given today by Mr. A. H. Cooper, executive member oj the Auckland Bootmakers’ Union, to a reported statement made in Parliament by Mr. C. M. Bowden (Oppn.. Wellington West) in the Address-in-Reply debate 1 hat boot operators in Auckland had decided on similar aciion to clothing trade workers in Christchurch in rejecting a proposal to work 43 hours a week, although overtime was 10 be paid. Mr. Cooper said that no such proposal had ever been submitted to iris union, nor had any such decision been made by Auckland boot operatives. On the contrary. overtime had been worked willingly and. in some instances, members were helping lh'ms other than rheir own employers in the evenings and on Saturday mornings.

Mr. Cooper said it was true tiiat the boot industry was under-staffed, particularly regarding female labour, which presented a major difficulty. Uppers used in the manufacture of footwear had to be machined by females before they reached male operatives, and many employers were so short of this type of worker that they had the utmost difficulty in keeping male staffs fully employed ,for even 40 hours.

This problem had been the subject of discussion on a number of occasions during the last year between representatives of the employers, employees and manpower officials, but so far no solution of the difficulty had been discovered. Attempts had been made to secure female trainees at a footwear trade school in Auckland, blit in the majority of cases applicants had refused to become trainees as soon as they learnt what wages they would receive during the training period. Until Ihe authorities agreed to raise the rate of pay to trainees, it appeared that this school would be of little use to the industry so far as female labour was concerned.

Mr. Cooper stated that manufacturers of the Dominion, so far from asking union members to work an extended week, had on several occasions during the past year unanimously decalred that it was utterly impossible to work a longer week even if ordered to do so until the shortage of female labour was overcome. Tire Government had been advised of this.