UNION DISPUTE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23382, 26 June 1939, Page 12

UNION DISPUTE

DRIVERS' GRIEVANCES STOP-WORK MEETING GATHERING ON WEDNESDAY LARGE NUMBER AFFECTED Members of tho Auckland Drivers' Union will hold a special stop-work meeting at the Trades Hall on Wednesday morning to discuss the position which has arisen in consequence of the failure to reach agreement in disputes with certain employers. The meeting, smarting at 8 a.m., will probably last the entire morning and it is expected that many of the union's 3000 members throughout the northern industrial district will attend.

Tho decision to discuss their problems 011 Wednesday was the outcome of a meeting of about 450 drivers which was held in tho Trades Hall yesterday morning. Included among those pre-1 sent were delegates from as Jar north ; as Kaitaia, and from Hamilton, 101 Awamutu and Rotorua in the south.^ Tho decision to stop work will affect all general carriers and forwarding agents, bread carters, and drivers j for a variety of businesses, including j fruit and produce merchants, latin- , dries and aerated water manufac-1 turcrs. Local body and passenger and omnibus drivers are not affected. The 40-Hour Week According to the secretary of the Drivers' Union, Mr. L. G. Matthews, ono of two important disputes is with employers whoso businesses are governed by the storemen's and packers' award, and tho wool, grain and hide store employees' award. Mr. Matthews said yesterday that both awards provided for a 40-hour week, and according to clause 2a of the general drivers' award, drivers employed by firms mainly governed by those two awards should also work tho same number of hours. In spite of a ruling by the Arbitration Court to that efFect last November, tho employers had failed to comply, he added. Proceedings had recently been taken by the Department of Labour to secure tho enforcement of the order, Mr. Matthews said, but the _ matter had been referred to the Arbitration Court for settlement. About 200 men were affected, and these were most dissatisfied with the position, for it was realised that, owing to the heavy programme before the Court, it would be a considerable time before the case could be heard. » Road Construction Work

A second dispute concerned men emploved on road construction work, said Mr* Matthews. Here again, it was alleged that employers were refusing to operate a 40-honr week in spite of a ruling by the industrial magistrate, Mr. J. A. Gilmour, that these hours should apply. "The drivers view these matters very seriously," Mr. Matthews added. Advice of the union's intention to hold a stop-work meeting is to be forwarded to the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, and to the national secretary of the New Zealand Drivers' Federation, Mr. F. C. Allerby, of Wellington.