THE BASIC WAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22603, 16 December 1936, Page 15

THE BASIC WAGE

DUTY OF EMPLOYERS AWARD RATES EXCEEDED The obligation of employers under the Arbitration Court's recent order to pay the basic wage is the subject of a statement issued yesterday by tho Labour Department. Special reference is made to the case of workers whose rates under awards or agreements are lower than those prescribed in the basic wage order. "The attention of employers is drawn to the effect of the Arbitration Court's basic wage order in the case of workers covered by awards or industrial agreements, where the minimum weekly wage ureseribed by the award for adult workers is less than £3 16s for males and £1 16s for females as fixed by order of the Court," says the statement. "Section 3 of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1936, provides while any general order fixing a basic rate of wages remains in force, no adult male or female worker, the conditions of whose employment are. fixed by any award or industrial agreement, shall receive less than the basic rate of wages for male or female workers, as the case may be, anything to the contrary in any such award or industrial agreement notwithstanding. A case in point is the tearoom and restaurant employees' award, where the weekly wage for certain classes of adult workers is less than the basic wage."