SHOP ASSISTANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20743, 10 December 1930, Page 15

SHOP ASSISTANTS.

NO INCREASE IN WAGES.

CONDITIONS UNCHANGED.

ARBITRATION COURT AWARD.

No increase in wages has been granted in the .''hop assistants' award, filed in the Arbitration Court in Auckland yesterday. The award will operate throughout, the norther;) industrial district, with the exception of the Gisborne judicial district, the Wellington industrial district, with the exception of Hawke's Bay, and the Otago and Southland industrial district. It applies to the soft goods, boot and shoe, fancy goods, hardware, crockery, books and stationery, and furniture and furnishing trades, and will remain in force for two years from December 29. In a. memorandum, Mr. Justice Frazer stated that several matters were referred to the Court, but, with minor exceptions, the award was based on the provisions of (ho expiring award. Owing to the fact, that a separate union had been registered in the Gisborne judicial district, which was not a. party to the dispute, no Gisborne employers had been added as parties.

In a dissenting opinion, Mr. A. L. Monteith, employees' assessor, said he was not in agreement with the wages awarded to juniors, which in some cases showed an increase of only 25 to 33 per cent, over the rates for 1912. Employers in the Gisborne district had asked to be struck out because a local union had beets registered. However, the Auckland union's registration covered the whole of the industrial district, and the new local union was also objecting to the employers' application. The registration of a union did not give the right of ex elusion to employers.