THEATRE PROJECTIONISTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23059, 9 December 1936, Page 8

THEATRE PROJECTIONISTS

CLAIMS FOR NEW AWARD CONTESTED BY EMPLOYERS (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, Dec. 8. In the Arbitration Court to-day the claim of the New Zealand Federated Motion Picture Projectionists Industrial Association of Workers was continued. Mr Raymond J. Reardon, for the applicants, called a number of witnesses to give evidence regarding the work done by projectionists. Dr P. P. Lynch said there was a quantity of fine flaky dust from the carbons used for lighting purposes, but he had never met a case where that dust injured health. He believed most of it would be arrested by the nostrils. The boxes became hot and stuffy and he considered that some form of controlled ventilation would improve the working conditions. Mr W. J. Mountjoy, for the theatre owners, said that much had been made of the film tax paid in New Zealand, and it had been suggested that large sums of money went into the pockets of American picture corporations. But the court could not be expected to regulate the charges of the overseas film companies. The employers asked the court to fix the wages and hours of the workers on a basis of the conditions ruling in New Zealand and in keeping with the wages and hours in other industries where the work was of similar value. The dispute before the court was the -esult of the union's withdrawal of a previous citation which had passed through the Conciliation Council where an almost complete agreement had been reached. In the case before the court very little had been .agreed to. The claims made by the workers were considered impossible by the employers' for both country and metropolitan theatres. Mr Mountjoy submitted that the award made for Christchurch last February gave a good indication of the value of projectionists.