CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20451, 4 July 1928, Page 13

CONCILIATION COUNCIL.

GENERAL LABOURERS’ UNION. The conciliation commissioner (Mr W. H. Haggar) sat in Dunedin yesterday to hear the general labourers’ dispute. Messrs W. G. Cocking, H. Vernon, and E. Haydon appeared for the Otago General Labourers’ Union, with Mr R. Harrison ( secretary). The employers were the Dunedin Corporation Electric Light and Power Department. The union asked for an increase of wages to the extent of Id an hour for general labourers. For labourers employed in hammer and drill _ work, or machine drill work, or men licensed to use explosives, 2s 3d per hour was asked for, in place of the old rate of Is lid per hour. The following clauses were also included in the men’s requests:—Men employed in working friction or other kinds of winches shall be paid not less than 2s Id per hour; all men engaged upon concrete work, asphalt, and tar work to receive Is per day extra over and above the ordinary rates of pay; men called on to work under conditions necessitating the wearing of gum boots, Is per day extra; men called on to work on boats and launches to be provided with oilskins and gum boots; men in charge of launch. Is per day extra over and above the ordinary rates of pay. The workers asked for the following clause: —“The following shall be the recognised holidays and no deduction from wages shall be made in respect of such holidays in the case of any worker who has been continuously employed by the employer for not less than four months; New Year’s Day, Anniversary Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Sovereign’s Birthday, Labour Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and picnic day, if conceded to council employees. Any work done on any of these days shall be paid for at ordinary rates in the case of those workers from whom no deduction is made for such holidays, and time and a-half rates in the case of all other workers.” Other requests were made in regard to accommodation, country work, improvements in huts, and conveyance of men to work, and it was asked that weekly hands with a year’s service should be allowed 14 days’ holiday at the ordinary rate of pay. The employers had filed no counterproposals. The hearing was fixed for 10.30 a.m., and after waiting a considerable time communication was obtained with the town clerk, who expressed his regret that the matter had been overlooked. He was going that day to Wellington, he said, and, therefore, he could not attend the sitting, but he would be prepared to take the matter in hand any day next week that would suit the commissioner and the union’s assessors. He apologised to the parties for the position in which they had been placed. The commissioner referred to the fact that this was the first occasion in his experience in which members of the employers’ side had failed to appear. The principal question involved in connection with the adjournment was with respect to the payment of the assessors. It was stated that the expenses of the union’s assessors amounted to £0 Bs, which sum would have to be met out of the union’s funds. The case was adjourned for a week. KAITANGATA COAL MINERS. The dispute between the Kaitangata coal miners and the Kaitangata Coal Company came before the council in the afternoon, and it was intimated that a complete agreement had been reached in terms of the present award, covering a period of two years, commencing from May 1 last.