LABOUR DISPUTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4496, 25 October 1901, Page 5

LABOUR DISPUTES.

THAMES MINERS’ UNION. INDUSTRIAL AWARD CONDEMNED. The Thames branch of the Miners’ Union met on the 19th instant, to discuss the award of the Arbitration Court in the recent dispute. There is said to have been a fair attendance of mem. hers. The president (Mr M. D. O’Keete) is reported to have made an attack of a somewhat personal nature upon Mr Justice Cooper, the President of the Court. Mr OTxeofe, in the course of his speech, said: ‘T wish to impress upon members that this defeat, great as it is, should not dishearten us, but that wo should keep banded together in the future as wo have been in the past, and bo again ready for battle when this two years’ penal servitude has expired.” Ho added that now it was nothing but the Arbitration Court with the employers—they did not want to trouble the Conciliation Board. The decision in the mining dispute could not be justified, but it would exist for two years. A resolution condemning the award a s unjust, unfair nnd„ unsatisfactory to the union was carried unanimously. CONCILIATION BOARD. Hearing of the brick and tile makers dispute was "resumed before the Wellington Conciliation Board yesterday. Mr Trevor, who opened the addresses on behalf of the employers, said that the union represented only a minimum of the employees, and it was therefore pre. posterous for it to seek to have preference over the main body of the work, crs. As to the claims for a big increase in burners’ wages, he woulu submit that no great skill was required for burning. H e had a carter in his employ who was now in the brick-yard, who, on occasion, took a turn at burning. Mr P. Hutson said he paid a common burner employed by him £3 a week —a sum in excess cf the union’s demand. In Sydney ■ yards, day men worked lortycight hours weekly for a wage of £2 Bs. When on night work their hours or labour were as many, and the Wages no greater. As- to the contention that the ivork was so hard that it caused employees to lose their health, he pointed out that only very “soft” men wore liable to that. These men should net attempt such work. The masters could not agree to the preference demands of the union. If the masters were compelled to do so they should bn entitled to know who the men were. Why should a master bo compelled to Make any “.scallywag”, off the streets? After a lengthy discussion between the Board and Mr Hutson as to the remuneration of the trade in Sydney and Melbourne, as compared with Wellington, Mr Hutson finished his address. / .

Mr Allan Orr, secretary of the union, objected that the masters had fm-f tneir minimum wage at a rate to suit the incompetent man. That was the point on which tho union and the employers differed. Tho union'fixed its minimum at a rate suitable for competent men. The reason why the unions objected to bavin" tho names of members brought up was because it gave the masters tho power to penalise members of the unions by discharging them—a course which appeared to have been taken several times. Mr Orr quoted a list of many local employers who had agreed-to abide by the preference to unionists clause —a clause which, he claimed, w,cs as much to tho advantage of masters as cf men. , Mr Mills (president of the union) submitted that a let of unionists in Welling, ton had been discharged because of then 1 connection with unions. As to the comparisons which had been made witn Sydney, he would point out that there a good four-roomed house could bo get ll in some suburbs for four shillings and sixpence per wreck, and from thete tho’tram fares for workmen were only threepence; . A conference between Messrs Hutsen and Orr was hold during the luncheon adjournment, and as a result of tins it was agreed that the wages of hoys in pottery works should ho 10s ner week for boys at 15 years: Ms at 16 years; 17s 6d at 17 years; £1 at 18 years; 24s at 19 v"ari,t ’33s at 20 years: 35s at M years. TluHroniaindor of the”suggestions of mr Hutson a» to remuneration of pottery emnlpvees were agreed t-o bv the union. The -Ro.rd, at 4 o’clock adjourned until 10.30 this morning, when the case as affecting tho br n neh"s of the tr-de other than potteries will,bo considered in camera.