MOULDING TRADE DISPUTE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3648, 26 January 1899, Page 7

MOULDING TRADE DISPUTE.

DECISION OF CONCILIATION /

BOARD. i RECOMMENDATIONS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY. The Conciliation Board, yesterday, an r nounced its recommedations in the industrial dispute between the Wellington ' Iron and Brass Moulders* Union of Workmen and the foundry masters of the Cl< The Chairman (Mr W. H. Quick) said this was a matter which had caused a large amount of consideration, as those present knew. The Board had gone into the questions submitted to it with as much car© as it possibly could bestow upon, any subject of the kind, and the result of its he was now about to read to them. Of course, he did not expect that the Board’s recommendations would be satisfactory to both parties, and ho might state that the members of the Board were not altogether unanimous in their findings in regard to different items. It was suggested by the employers at the very outset of the inquiry that they wished to go direct to the Court of Arbitration, and that they intended to do so in any circumstances. And he (tho chairman) assumed that it was open to both parties to do so now. This matter had been gone into before tho Conciliation Board in Dunedin, and there it had been carried to tho Court of Arbitration. It seemed to him that it was almost a pity to bring forward another inquiry founded upon tho same basis as one that was already before the Court of Arbitration, because it simply meant that if the Court ofsArbitration in the Dunedin case gave an award entirely dissimilar to the suggestions of the Wellington Conciliation Board in this dispute, this Board’s suggestions would go for nothing, or one party must appeal to the Court to get things brought into line. Although it was desirable, and even absolutely necessary, to take into consideration different local matters, such as house-rent, which might affect one place as against another, yet it was exceedingly desirable that, with those slight exceptions, all tho trade throughout . New ' Zealand should I be brought into line, and that substantially the same wages and the same hours and other conditions ruling the trade should lie adopted in every place in the country, so as to prevent one set of operatives in one place undercutting. and interfering with those in another-.placo, However, the matter had been lafd before this Board, and tho Board had deemed it necessary, in order to do its duty properly, to take tho thing into consideration. Mr Quick then read the recommendations of the Board, which are as follow:

; 1. Forty-six and a-half hours shall constitute a week’s work. Work shall not commence except as overtime before 8 a.m. or continue after 5 p.m. with half an hour for dinner, except on Saturdays, when the time worked shall he from 8 a.m, to 12 noon.; Daywork and’dvertime shall be reckoned separately;. / 2. Overtime shall be paid at the rat© of time and a. quarter for the fir’st 'two hours, time and a-half afterwards; double time to be paid for Sundays. Good Friday, and Christmas Day, and time and a half for other statutory holidays. 3. Competent workmen shall receive not less than Is 3d an hour. Should the question of competency be raised it shall be submitted to a committee for settlement,, consisting of two representatives frbm each sidei who. shall appoint a chairman to sit with them, and should the committee’s decision be disagreed with by either side, the question shall be;submitted to the Board of Conciliation for final settlement. 1 The condition of employment at present observed in plate work shops so far as plate moulding is concerned shall not; bo interfered with.

4. The number of apprentices shall be limited-to one to three men, to he calculated on the average number of men employed during the preceding twelve months.. But ■ this clause shall not be deemed to apply to plate moulding, nor shall it apply to brass-founders who do not compete with the iron-moulders who make heavy brass mouldings, . such as bearings. No apprentice shall serve for a shorter period than six years. :An apprentice having, served six years in the trade shall be considered a. journeyman. The scale of wages for apprentices shall bo as follows:—ss a week for the ;first year, 7s 6d a week for the second -ear, 12s a week for the third year, 17s a week for the fourth year, 21s a week for the fifth year, and 26s a week for the sixth year, ■ 5. Members of the union shall be employed in preference to non-members, provided,there are members of the union who are equally qualified with non-meni-bors to perform the particular work to be done, and are ready and willing to ! undertake it. , ) . 6. Wliere members of the union 'and non-members are employed -together, there shall be no distinction made i between members and non-members. Both shall work together in harmony, and both shall wprk under the same conditions, and receive equal pay for equal work; The foregoing recommendations shall be embodied in an industrial agreement, which shall remain in force for one year from this date. If the agreement be not executed within seven days from this date either of the parties to the dispute may appeal. Dated this 24th day of January, 1899. The, Chairman added that ho thought the Board might congratulate the narties as a whole on the'pleasant way in winch they had met each other whilst before the Board,. Ho also wished to acknowledge the assistance the Board had; re ceivod from both sides. - a Mr W. Cable : Do you meet again ? The Chairman ; We do not, in this dispute., Within seven days we shall expect to hear that something is done, either that you are going to appeal, or that an agreement has.been signed. Mr Cable: We must communicate with you direct P The Chairman ; You had better. You will have tp communicate with the other side, of course, if you are going to.anneal. Mr P. J. Mullins, on . behalf of the union, said he would lav the-recommen-dations of the Board before tho union at a meting to bo held in a few days’ time.