STAGE HANDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8683, 17 March 1914, Page 8

STAGE HANDS

TERMS OF THEATRICAL EMPLOYMENT..

A meeting of the Conciliation Council, with tile Commissioner (.Air PlHally) presiding, was held yesterday [morning to consider the demands of tho Wellington Stage Hands. Messrs L. I'lowers and A. J. Hentice represented tire Stage Hands' U nion, and Messrs ii. Koyie, J. Fuller and FI. Muller the theatrical employers. Tne award asked for was practically the same as tho Dunedin award. Tho wages asked for were 'as 'follow:" —Casual stage carpenters and men in charge of transport, Is 6d per hour; the minimum wage for a travelling stage hand to be £3 Ic.i per week, fir.sc mechanist to get not less than £5 I,os per week, second £4 10s per week, and flyman £4 10s ; property men’s wages ito bo from £3 10s to £4 10s per week; wiremen, Is 4Jd per hour, ■switch-board attendant 7s per performance; travelling electricians £3 10s and £4 10s per week. Night hands’ wages are asked for as follow: —Flymen 4s 6d (minimum) to 7s per night, stage hands 4s 6d, property and light hands 4s 6d per performance. Overtime is provided! for, ordinary working hours to be from half an hour before rising of curtain until the clearing of the stage. If casual labour is employed, tho wages are to vary from Is 3d to 2s per hour, according to the time, and casual artists’ assistants are to come under this heading. Wardrobe attendants' wages are not to be less than £3 a week, and Uressers to get 4s per performance. Special provisions are made for the employees of permanent vaudeville entertainments. Stage hands are to get 24s 6d per week of seven performances, or 21s for sis, and casual stage hands to get 3s 9d per performance. Flymen are to count as stage hands, ■unless there are no counter weights, when 28s and 24s per week are to be the wages for seven or six performances respectively. The wages of casual labour at rehearsals vary from Is 3d to 2s per hour. Other conditions provide for a weekly half-holi-day. employees to be engaged by the week, an employment list to he kept by tho union at _ each theatre, preference for unionists, and full time while travelling, all employees to travel first class at tho employers’ expense. - The following firms are joined as parties to the award:—J. C. Williamson, Ltd., Brennan, Fuller, Ltd., George Willoughby, Hamilton and Plimmer, Rickards. William Anderson. and Buckler and Denniston. The council agreed to make a recommendation to the Arbitration Court in the terms that are stated above.