LABOUR NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16483, 8 March 1917, Page 3

LABOUR NOTES.

BY T7KIOXIST, i t " '' - •

MUNICIPAL LABOURERS' WAGES. & a plea for an increase of wages to the S oratlOD labourers, the secretary of tho Wngton General Labourers' Union Vomu , out that while Wellington is adnotedly the most expensive ten in the Dow m which to live, the wages Pa.d to the labourers on the corporation staflf compare unfavourably with those paid -other places. Thus Petone, practically J Wellington suburb, pays l s 4 d an hour during the winter months, and Wanganni is V an hour for a 48 hours' week hough only 463 hours are actually worked Men working in water are paid ls 6d" «j>th a 10 per cent, bonus in addition, an ,l »li men are granted seven da*s" holiday yearly on full pay. Napier pay, its men Us per day. These rates are paid bv agreement with the union, and in eompaS « th Wellington scale of Is lid'and Is 2id an hour plus alO per C ent war bonus, looks small. WOMEN WORKERS UNDER AWARDS Last September the Arbitration Court decided at Christchurch that women workers under an award where special proviIt is not , made for them must be paid at the male. rate. There is still an impression abroad, however, that won, workers do not come under an award onto* specified, and the Labour Department been kept busy explaining that"} employers wish to discriminate thev ma«t ipply for a supplementary award. U Wellington tins week a bacon company ivho had employed women to do Lh't work about tho factory, such as pasting abels on tins, had them classified as other workers" under the award, to tflioin ls 2d an hour was payable. rHE LOWERING COST OP LIVING. In these days when complaints as to ising prices are universal, it is interesting o hear that in Queensland the cost of mng is going down. Speaking at. a fitting of the Arbitration Court at Rockjampton Mr. Justice Maughton said that luring the war there had been a steadv ncrcaso in the cost of living, but this bad stopped, and there was now a slight decease. Tho secretary of the Employers' Association, giving evidence, estimated lie decrease in the last six months at 7 ier cent. in Roekhampton and nearly 10 >er cent, in Brisbane, and looked upon the lecrease as a permanent one. It would » interesting to know how far the >olicy of the State Labour Government o eliminate the middleman has contri>uted to this result. 6 IN AWARD FOR STATIONMASTERS. One of the latest unions to appeal to ho Queensland Arbitration Court- for an .ward is that of the railway stationmasers, who are asking for an eight-hour lay. The statioumasters have been aviating for this for some time, but appeals o the Railway Commission and the' Minster for Railways have produced as vet, io result. They urged that other States a the _ Commonwealth have granted the oncession, and that if they" were paid he usual .union rate of time-and-a-half hey would he entitled to an extra 324,000 a year. THE TYPOGRAPHICAL AWARD. The agreement arrived at in the typo* iraphical dispute was embodied in as .ward by the Arbitration Court at Wellington this week, and comes into opera:ion next month. It is the result of comJromiso on both sides, the union naking certain concessions in return or an increase in wages. When :omplimented by Mr. Justice Stringer m having arrived at a settlement >f a very difficult dispute, Mr. P. Pirani, one of the employers' representatives, said that no one- was more surprised at reaching an agreement than tho parties themselves. Some clauses in the iward are highly technical, and were dotted at very great length. The award 5 a Dominion one, and is for three years, jut the question of hours may be re>pened at the termination of the war. The iward contains .a provision, which is likdly to figure in a 'good manv awards n future, providing for the setting up of ' nsputes boards. • - > IN OFFICE WORKERS' AWARD. Clerical workers in the Commonwealth, mlike . clerks i n New Zealand, have jailed themselves freely of the Arbitraion Court system. The Melbourne Clerks' Jnion have always strongly supported he plea of equal pay for equal work as letween men and women workers, and n a case before the Court of Industrial Appeal last month they attempted to ' iavo • the principle embodied in their •ward and nominated a lady, Miss Rose icott, as their assessor. After a lengthy tearing tho Court refused the appliation, but granted male workers n increase of 2s and'females Is a week n a 48-hour week. Male clerks are to bo aid not less than 58s a week within the lelbourae area, and 54s outside, and smalo clerks 375. Both sexes are to start qual as apprentices at 12s a week, but nth a different scale of increases, until ho fifth year • boys must receive 40s a. reek and girls 28s. Typists and steiio;raphers are to start at 20s a week, but □ their fifth year girls will only receive As a week against the mala 445. The .ward does not apply to the employees of lankingor insurance "companies, or to legal mployees.'