DRIVERS' DISPUTE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10206, 17 February 1919, Page 4

DRIVERS' DISPUTE

NO SETTLEMENT REACHED COMMISSIONER MAKES SUGGESTIONS. Press Association. AUCKLAND, February 15. Efforts for a settlement of the drivers' dispute were continued in the Conciliation Council this morning, when Mr Pryor, on behalf of the employers, offered Is 4Jd per hour for a forty-eight-hours' week, with Is 3d per hour for four hours' stable time, and overtime, rates for all work above these fifty-.two hours, and in case of twohorse men fifty-six. Mr Pryor made a definite statement that at these rates the work would be permanent. Mr Davis asked whether this covered payment for lunch hour, and the reply was "No." The parties separated to consider the position, and the council adjourned for an hour. ■« Mr Davis said the union assessors had considered the offer, and could not' accept .anything loss than the Is 7d they had asked for. There was this trouble about the hourly wage that employers had a right to break into the middle of the day. One shilling and sevenpence was not a very large sum for casual labour, and the union could ask nothing le.ss. The Commissioner said they had spent a great deal of time, and were now apparently at a deadlock: If this dispute were settled, it wiis going to have a very great effect m decreasing the present industrial unrest. The union had first asked for £3 10s for a forty-eight-hbur week. Then they tried an hourly rate. The union asked Is 7d per hour, and the employers offered Is 4Jd, with Is 3d for 6table time. The employers had very firmly laid down that it was wages for permanent time, and equivalent to £3 6s a week. "Taking into consideration the wages of an ordinary labourer, and thinking that drivers had to look after valuable horses, and thus being, at any rate, a stage'above the ordinary labourer, I suggest that you employers should make the rate a weekly one of £3 6s for forty-eight hours, £3 10s for two-horse drivers, and payment of Is 3d an hour overtime." He appealed to both parties to accept the suggestion and settle the dispute. The men had stood loyally by the agreement reached after Cabinet had intervened in the last dispute, and they were entitled to consideration. '• "Now, Mr Pryor, between a onehorse driver and two-hqrss driver there has always been the difference of 4s a week. Your suggestion would make the rates paid to a one-norse : driver and a two-horse driver very dispropoitionate, and would give the two-borse driver much more than wo had thought." ■ Mr Otley complained about makinjj different standards for two classes of men. It was the same, ha contended, as paying two men differently for the same work. Mr Pryor: Your suggestion of £3 6s for forty-eight hours, Mr Commissioner;, seems to me to be the logical result of your definition' of a living wagn. • ■-•-'• The Commissioner: . To which sou took no exception. Mr Pryor-: I- did' not-flay anytnjngr As' the result of your suggestion you have put me in the tightest corner I havo ever been in in connection with industrial, disputes. He said the proposal of the Commissioner demanded a whole lot of earnest consideration. It ' meant an increase of 13s 6d a week for one-horse men and 18s 6d for two-horse men, and it meant an additional yearly expense of anything to £IOO,OOO a year among all the employers of drivers in the Dominion. He thought he was within the mark when saying that it would be a difficult question for them to consider and they would have to deal carefully with the question of passing the increase on to the public—whether it would mean decreased business, and whether the business would decrease so far as to seriously affect them financially. Ho explained that though a good percentage of men would havo permanent work, many of them would be "less permanent." There was a good deal of lost time for all men. Regarding hours', he queried the forty-eight-hours' proposal, saying that the work of a driver was different from other occupations. He ■ had to attend horses. The real argument was over the forty-eight-hour principle, and the discussion centred round about fortyeight hours and fifty-two or fifty-six. Mr Parlane did not believe the public would object to a fair increase of car£ago rates to meet a fair increase to the drivers.. There was a discussion on the grooming system, which Mr Davis considered was practicable and employers decided it was not. The. council then adjourned for an hour. OFFER BY EMPLOYEES. •'" AUCKLAND, February _ 16. Consideration of the drivers' dispute continued till a late hour on Saturday. Eventually Mr Pryor said the employers were prepared to offer a weekly wage of £3 6s to all classes of drivers for a forty-eight-hour week, and payment for stable attendance at Is 4Jd an hour for four hours per week for single-horse drivers and eight hours for two-horse drivers. If the offer wore accepted, single-horse drivers would receive £3 lis 6d and two-horse drivers £3 17s. No payment would be made for holidays. Consideration of the proposals was deferred till to-morrow.