WAGES OF MILKMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18521, 4 October 1923, Page 11

WAGES OF MILKMEN.

DEMAND FOR INCREASE.

CONDITIONS OF : EMPLOYMENT.

An application; for a new award for dairy employees came before the Arbitration Court yesterday, Mr. Justice Frazer presiding; Mr. J. Purtell represented the union,' and Mr. S. E. Wright; appeared for the milk vendors.

'Mr. Purtell said that the workers asked for a minimum wage of £4 5s a week of seven "days, which . represented 12s l£d per day. Most labourers received 2s per hour, and then did not have to start so early in the morning, as the milk roundsmen. That early start meant that milkmen were cut off from the social life-thai; average workers enjoyed,.having to work on all holidays and' Sundays. The reasons ■<■ generally put forward by the employers for 1 the low wages paid were the chance of earning commission, the supposed ' short hours worked, and the fact that one quart of milk.per day was given. As to commission,. a roundsman was never certain how. long he was going to retain it. The employers realised that £3 15s was less, than a living wage, and most of them paid £3 18s. / ; Mr. Wright said the first award made in the industry was in' 1910, when the Wages were fixed at £2 6s, with the commission on sales.: Those wages had been increased in successive awards, until' they reached the present-rate of £3 15s, equal to.- an ■ increase of 63 per cent. It was the duty of the union to show what had occurred since the wages had been' fixed by the Court in the last award made in 1921, • which /would:'warrant any further increase. The Court would in due course deal with < any ' alteration in the cost of living in . October! next, and ■- the award now being made would be subject to any general order made,- and the cost of living figures should, ' therefore, be eliminated from the present case. Roundsmen's hours were not particularly long or arduous, and the workers enjoyed the usual holidays. : The Court reserved its decision. ?;