GAS WORKERS' DISPUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17335, 5 December 1919, Page 6

GAS WORKERS' DISPUTE.

EMPLOYERS' OFFER REJECTED. UNION ADHERES TO DEMANDS. MEN THREATEN TO STRIKE. A critical stage has been reached in connection with the dispute between the Auckland, Birkenhead, and Northcote Gas Companies and their employees, in connection with which a Labour Disputes Investigation Committee has sat for several days. A special meeting of the Gas Employees' Union, at which about 200 men were present, held last evening, rejected the employers' proposals by 181 votes to 25, and unanimously resolved that if no agreement is reached at a meeting of the committee this morning, the case be placed in the hands of the Federation of Labour and the employers be given seven days' notice of the men's intention to cease work. The meeting, at which the president of the union, Mr. A. Benton, presided, was called " to accept or reject the employers' latest proposals." The secretary, Mr. J. Clarke, stated that the assessors for the union had " come down to absolute bedrock" in their proposals. They had reduced them to a bare living wage, and they must get a settlement on those terms. He then read a letter which he said he had just received from the manager of the Auckland Gas Company, Mr. J. Lowe, in which the employers had agreed to make certain increases on their original proposals. Thus the terms asked by the union, with the corresponding offer now made by the companies, stated in each case in parentheses, are as follows: Men employed in meter shop and stove shop, complaint men, grip-pump men, street lamp men, meterwaterers, and boiler-maintenance men— now receiving £3 5s a —demand £3 15s a week (£5 12s 6d) ; labourers —now paid Is 4£d an —demand Is 8d an hour (Is 7d) ; foremen in charge of labourerspresent rates differentialdemand Is lOd an hour (no proposal) ; complaint hands employed on afternoon shift, 6s a week extra (agreed to by employers); retort-house workers per shift, machinemen demand 15s 6d (15s) ; stokers, 15s (14s 6d) ; water-gas operators, 15s (14s) ; boiler foremen, 14s 6d (13s 6d); firecleaners, 14s 6d (13s 6d) ; men on coke crushers, and all others, 14s 6d (13s). In regard to " pram" working, the employers agreed to pay at the rate of time and a-half when the coke-conveyer was out of order, as asked by the onion. In conclusion, the employers agreed to reduce the proposed term of the award from three years to two, whereas the union asked for one year. The employers' proposals were put to a ballot and rejected by a large majority. The meeting resolved to adhere to the demands when meeting the employers today; not to grant the chairman a casting vote; and, failing a settlement, to give seven days' notice of a strike. THE WELLINGTON DISPUTE. PROSPECTS OF SETTLEMENT. [BY TELEGRAPH. PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Thursday. A tentative settlement has been arrived at in the dispute between the Wellington Gas Company and its employees. The men are now working overtime. . A complete settlement is likely.