HIGHER WAGES SOUGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17497, 15 June 1920, Page 6

HIGHER WAGES SOUGHT

V; BOOT TRADE WORKERS. DOMINION APPLICATION. OPPOSITION ;' BY EMPLOYERS. ' f»r TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION'.] . CHRI3TGHURCH, Mond*r. •.. V The Arbitration Court to-day heard an application for an ,'amendment of the Dominion male and femalo '-; Boot • , Opera-. tives' Awards of October,* 1918. In tho case of operatives, the Court was asked to grant the basic wage 'fixed for skilled workers (2* per hour), together , with o bonus. of 3d art hour- For female opera-, tives of four years' experience arid upwards the Court was asked to fix a wage of £2 10s per week, with £2 17s_ 6d per week for hot wax thread machinists. In) ■'. addition the workers asked for the bonuses of Id and lid per hour granted this year by the Court. , .V .■.■./ ~..-; t The grounds of the application were: (a The high standard of skill required (b) the increased cost of living; (c) the ';unhealthy ■ conditions of the work; (d) the Court's recent pronouncement at Gisborne of its willingness to amend the basic wage of.industries under current awards. ■Mr. C. A. Watts, who appeared in support of the application, said that owing to the date of ratification of the two award's it had not been possible to apply earlier for the basic wage of skilled workers. Mr. Watte cited the, increases granted to various skilled workers between 1912 and 1919. These ranged from 5Jd to 7Jd an hour. * The bootmakers received increases in that period of 4d- In January, 1920, the boot trade wage was raised to Is 8d per hour on account or the increased cost of livinsf,' while tho wages of other trades were raised by Id an hour. lie quoted a memorandum of Mr. Justice Heydon, oJ the Commonwealth Arbitration Court "We are of opinion that journeymen in the hoot trade art skilled workers and should receive the wage of skilled ' workers, to which they are fairly entitled." Mr. Mufflebeck, for the employers, said it was not reasonable to place bootmakers on the same plane of skill as plumber* and engineers. ' There should be a reclassification in the industry, and the employers were prepared to agree to this. The employers asked that the claim for the basic wage be deferred until November next, .when the term of the existing award expired. Prices in the boot and shoe trade were falling, and the retailers were abstaining from buying. This was'going to affect employment, and he' was afraid they were going to face a period of depression. The ■ Court reserved , its decision.