APPEAL TO EMPLOYERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14565, 30 December 1910, Page 5

APPEAL TO EMPLOYERS.

m :■ ' . LABOURERS NOT SATISFIED. fe i :. v ;,.- ■ . j- .' [by telegraph.— association.] . T Wellington, Thursday. I - The General Labourers' Conference, at its ! V session to-day, resolved, in view of the [ ■ recent decisions of the Arbitration Court, notably in the painters' award at Gis--1 V borne, to approach the employers direct, 1 with the object of bettering conditions of [£*■ •;' labour. The conference was almost ucani--1 -■.'[■. mous against going before the Arbitration IP. Court, and representations will, therefore, I * be made, without an intermediary, to the I;-!; employers in the first place, and every efI'fori will be made to cometo a settlement } of all points in dispute. Only a 8 a last : resort will the union take its case to Court. lII'-'. The City Council is, perhaps, the chief employer of general labourers in the city, ;:> and the union complains that the Coun- , - cil, will not pay travelling expenses as V\\ provided by the award. It is alleged by the union that the Council deliberately de- .?', feats the purpose of the award by having / small buildings erected in different parts « where labourers are employed, and styles ;': • these its places of business. Thus the " work is never far from the place of business, and it is contended by the representatives of the union that that practically ■-,-: 'amounts to defrauding men of au allowi; ance to which they are justly and equitably entitled. The conference decided to- !•':" day to approach the Council shortly for % better terms. If the plea of the labourers is not successful, it is resolved that the question of travelling allowances and better conditions generally for corporation labourers shall be made a test at the coming Mayoral and municipal elections. Other local bodies beside the City Council are involved.