CONCILIATION BOARD

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6270, 25 July 1907, Page 3

CONCILIATION BOARD

THE BAKERS’ DISPUTE.

A sitting of the Conciliation Board was held yesterday morning to hear a dispute filed by the Wellington Operative Bakers’ Industrial Union of Workers. Jifetnsrs P. •} . u’Eegan (chairman), 11. Inniss (employers’ representative) A. H. Cooper and A, Collins (employee? representatives) were present. Mr F. Bedford was unable to attend. The union was represented by Mr W. H. Westbrooke and Mr J. Harlen (president of tho union), and the employers present were—'Messrs W. A. Kellow (president of the Master Bakers’ Association), H. F. Allen (secretary), and Messrs F, McFarland, J. Godber, and George Dickson. The principal demands of th© union are a a follow t—Hours of labour to be, forty-five per week, no overtime to be worked on Wednesdays. The hour of starting to be 4 a.m. every day of the week, and if an employee commences earlier, all time worked between midnight and tho ordinary time of commencement to be paid at the rate of double time. The minimum rates of wages asked for were:—Foremen, £3 Ite per week (as against £3); any man, except a foreman, working an oven to receive £3 5s (as against £2 10s); all other men, £3 (as against £2 ss), All second hands to be competent to take for©-, man’s place when necessary. Regarding apprentice?, if they are kept on after three months’ probation the foreman is to receive 2s €d per week for th© first year, 5s for the second, 7s 6d for tho third, and 10s for the fourth, in addition to hie ordinary wages, for instructing them. All the men to receive dry pay—i.e., no boarding on the promisee. It is also proposed to do away with the employment book. About three hundred employers were cited. Mr Kellow, replying to the chairman, said the parties had twice mot in conference, but .nothing had been agreed upon. The muvsters hod desired to make two exnlanations to th© Board and then retire. They did not consider it right that Mr Collins should sit as a member, he being secretary of a number of unions, and, no doubt, helping to formulate their demands. Moreover, if the. proposals were granted it would close about half the bakehouses in Wellington. They intended to take the dispute direct to the Arbitration Court. The chairman : Ido not think I should allow you to say that. I do not think it is fair to the Board to say you are going to take the caise direct to the Arbitration Court. If the Board is not put on a more satisfactory basis this session I shall not waste my time with it any longer. We have don© th© best w© can, and have met with the most ungenerous treatment. Mr Kellow: Tou interrupted me before I had finished. It had been decided by members of his union to refer the matter to the Arbitration Court direct, as they felt it would be impossible for the Board to arrange anything that could possibly be satisfactory to both parties, as the employees demanded so much in excess of what 1 the masters were prepared to give. He apologised if he. had said anything which had offended the Board.

The chairman : What do you take - exception to? Mr Kellow: We take exception to the whole of the demands and the restrictions.

The chairman : I think the way in which employers treated the Board on a forner occasion in connection with the cooks and waiters* award should be a warning to them. The Board had to make recommendations, and as they wanted to make rational ones they de-, 1 sired the assistance of those in a position to supply them with information. ' At the request of the chairman, Mr Kellow reviewed the demands from a purely personal point of view. The hour of starting was too late, and unfair to tho carters. It should be 2 o'clock. The reduction asked for was also too large, ind the increase of wages out of all proportion. It was the public that was really before tho Board, because they would have to pay the increases. The non were not squeezing the employers. With reference to apprentices, Mr Kellow said ho had had two, and both had proved failures. He had four- Australians in his bakehouse because he could not get New Zealanders. He did not favour having boys in the bakehouse. Small bakeries should be provided for their training. He thought apprentices were well paid, as* they received SOs a week after serving three and a half years.

Mr Wcstbrooke said the men were only seeking to come into lino with other : sradesmen. The half-holiday asked for accounted for the reduction of hours, and that was- not unreasonable. The conditions wore not such as to attract nnnrentices to the trade. If employers wanted to train boys they should make L ho conditions easier and tho remuneration better. Why, ho' asked, should bakers be asked to. work longer than other trades. Ho had no fear that the trade would be ruined if the demands were acceded to. The increases asked were sb slight that the prices would not bo affected, nor was there likely to bo -\ decrease in the demand for bread. Tli© chairman said it seemed to him that there was very little that could not be adiusted amicably, except the question of wages and hours. He sug--b=ted that the parties should confer on '•beso points. A 7i application was mad© by Mr Godber that the pastrycooks and confecHonshould be exempted from the agreement, and the chair™*" intimated that due consideration would be given to the triplication. Blackie (secretary of the Drivers* Union) asked the Board, when considering tho demands, to make the hour of starting such as would enable the men L o ffot finished at a reasonable time at -nfjht. . After further discussion, the employers withdraw, and the chairman intimated that on the return of the Board from Hie country a sitting would be held here in accordance with the law, and evidence called. The Board will sit at Masterton on August Idth, Nanier 19th, Palmerston ’•th 21st, and Wanganui 23rd.