CLOTHING TRADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23529, 18 June 1938, Page 16

CLOTHING TRADE

ORITICISM OF NEW AWARD CONDITION OF INDUSTRY IGNORED ’ , i\ CHARGE OF INCONSISTENCY (Per United Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, June 17. ** One of the most astounding and Illogical documents which so far has come from either of our present Arbitration Courts ” is the description applied by the secretary of the Canterbury Employers’ Association (Mr D. I. Macdonald) to the Dominion clothing trades award recently issued by the Second Court, of which Mr Justice Hunter is president.

Mr Macdonald said that the first court had endeavoured to establish a wage basis, and was also reimposing existing conditions in relation to other matters unless very strong evidence was brought by either party in support of a change. The advent of the Second Court had largely nullified this effort, and because of lack of uniform policy an almost chaotic condition existed. Policy of Courts “To-day parties in the Concilia- 1 ' tion Council have.no clear understanding of the policy of the courts on many important issues, and so it cannot be wondered at that union advocates prefer to gamble on the inconsistency of at least one of the courts rather than make agreements in conciliation council,” said Mr Macdonald. Dealing with the new clothing trades award, Mr Macdonald said there were 25 clauses. Of these 13 were either of a purely machinery nature or were settled in conciliation council. Of the other 12 clauses the court had altered 10 materially in favour, of the union, and left two as they were set out in the old award. In the new award clauses which had been agreed upon by the parties for more than 20 years, and which w’ere included in the 1937 award by Mr Justice Page, had been altered to the disadvantage of the employer without one shred of evidence being produced by the advocate for the workers’ union. v ; , Women Workers “While, in accordance with the only policy which the Second Court seems to have—to increase wages and further restrict industry—some increase in wages was to be expected,” he added, “the substantial increase granted to women will be calamitous for the industry and possibly for the workers who depend on it for their livelihood.” “ There is much more in the award to leave the employers both dissatisfied and perturbed,” Mr Macdonald concluded. “ Take, for example, the astounding implication in one paragraph of 4 he memorandum that the court cannot be concerned with the ability of an industry to pay. This will come as a rude shock to many New Zealand manufacturers who are struggling to maintain and build up productive industries in the face of strong overseas competition. They know now where they stand, at least in so far as the Second Court of Arbitration is concerned. Pronouncements of the court have always given some recognition tp the condition of industry.” HIGHER LABOUR COSTS EFFECT ON INDUSTRY AID FOR OVERSEAS COMPETITION <Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 17. "The effect of the high wages granted by the Court of Arbitration in the Dominion clothing trades award will be to complicate still further the position of industry as far as overseas competition is con-, cerned,” said Mr F. N. Ambler, immediate past-president of the Auckland Manufacturers’ Association. Mr Ambler mentioned that in the shirt manufacturing section of the industry, with which he was intimately concerned, labour costs prior to the award that had now come into operation were practically double those ruling in England. The fact that the present tariff protection was only 20 per cent, meant that the industry was exposed to the full rigours of English competition. “Already most of the' clothing factories are working on short time and reduced staffs, and this latest development will put the position from bad to worse,” Mr Ambler continued. “ Last year the importations of shirts, collars, etc., were sufficient to keep a factory employing 300 girls operating for 12 months. In making its decision the court commented on the fact that competition from overseas had to be disregarded by it, as this was a matter for the Legislature to deal with. It is hoped i that the Government will note this, or otherwise it may find itselt with additional unemployed to support.” INCREASED COSTS EFFECT OF FORTY-HOUR WEEK MANUFACTURERS PERTURBED (Special to Daily Times) WELLINGTON, June 17. The general state of industry is such that it is practically impossible for New Zealand manufacturers to compete with imported goods because of the continually-increasing costs, said a Wellington clothing ■f manufacturer to-day, commenting on the Dominion clothing trades’ award issued to-day by the Second Court of Arbitration. Due mainly to the effect of the 40-hour week, the wages in his factory had increased 52 per cent, since 1935. The new award would increase these ap- ■ proximately a further 1 per cent. To suggest that his returns had increased to anj' similar extent would be preposterous. There were ' enough manufacturers in New Zealand to supply the greater portion of the country’s requirements, and competition was so keen that prices, if anything, were lower than two years ago. There was no chance of securing an increase in price to meet the rise in costs of production. “ Mr Justice Hunter’s memorandum to the clothing trades award implied that the court was not concerned with the ability of industry to pay, this being a matter for the legislature. If this is so, then it

would seem logical when an award is issued that the Government should follow with suitable action to assist industry to meet increased costs.” He said that so far as stocks were concerned, the position had never been worse. At present he was making up sufficient goods to meet his orders. This would last for about two months, and what the position would be after that he did not know. “ Our inland orders are less than half what they were at the same period last year,” he said. One of the most startling developments in business at present was the difficulty in collecting accounts which ordinarily were paid on the tenth of each month. Formerly at least 75 per cent, of his accounts were forwarded to his firm in full payment on the due date. At present scarcely 50 per cent, were paid. This was an extraordinary development in what were considered to be prosperous times. At this period last year his firm had sufficient orders to carry it right through and could rely on repeat orders. This was not the position to-day. Imported goods were dominating the market and orders to New Zealand manufacturers were falling off in a surprising manner.

“If Mr Justice Hunter’s contention that the court was not concerned with the ability of the industry to pay and that this was a matter for the legislature were followed to its logical conclusion one might see the ludicrous position created of voluminous evidence being presented for the information of the court, and again for the information of the Government.” said another manufacturer. Surely the’ court w:s concerned with such factors as overseas competition and the ability of industry to pay? If not. it was little more than a body charged with the perfunctory duty of increasing wages, and was merely wasting its time and that of others by listening to the evidence, which took a great deal of preparation, as to the ability of industry to meet the increased costs.

“ With the increase in wages under the new industrial award, the protection afforded the clothing trade by the higher tariff imposed on Australian imports some months ago will be largely lost,” said Mr A. H. Hines of Mason, Hines. Ltd., clothing manufacturers. Given a normal amount of business, the trade could pay the Increased wages and carry on. but at present there was a general slackness, and, although an improvement could be seen ahead, it would be several months before it was realised.

“ In common with other employers, we are anxious to pay our workers as high a wage as possible; but. if the standard of living is to be further raised, the industry will have to be given adequate protection.” Mr Hines said., “Another point, and a very important one, is that New Zealand workers will have to help themselves by buying Dominionmade goods. At present the employees in one industry cry out for higher wages, but in many cases they will not support their fellowworkers in another trade. By buying imported »oods, they help to lower the standard of their fellowworkers and to create unemployment.”

Mr Hines’s views were supported by the head of another clothing firm. “If wages are to be raised and hours restricted, the Government will have to adjust tariffs to enable manufacturers to sell their products at an increased cost.” he said. The employers could not keep on raising wages without also raising the price of their products to the consumer, making competition with imports even more difficult. LOCAL SECRETARY’S VIEWS POSITION OF FEMALE WORKERS “CONFLICTING DECISIONS WITH TWO COURTS”

. “ Generally speaking I am in agreement with the views expressed by Mr Macdonald,” said Mr A, S. Cookson,. secretary of the Otago Employers’ Association, when asked to comment on the Dominion clothing trades award. ' “ Having been the advocate for the employers he is more familiar with the details of the dispute and the relative provisions in the award as promulgated by the Second. Court,” Mr Cookson said. “I agree with Mr Macdonald that on general principles there is no definite policy laid down as a guide to parties in dealing with disputes in Concliation Council. The standard wage pronouncement issued by the court last year ostensibly dealt with the fixation of the wages of skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled workers who were employed at hourly rates and whose employment was more or less intermittent mainly by reason of weather conditions. The principle then laid down has not been closely observed and the so-called standard rates have been applied by the court to all hourly workers, whether or not their employment is regular or intermittent. It has been the general practice in the past to draw a distinction between workers on weekly and hourly wages, arid it must be obvious that to be equally advantageous to the worker the weekly wage should be something less than the equivalent of an hourly wage for workers who are paid only for the time actually worked. For this reason I think it was wrong to fix in the clothing trades award the adult female wage at £2 10s, simply because the first court had prescribed in the woollen mills’ award Is 3d an hour for adult female workers.

“ I have always been of the opinion.” Mr Cookson continued. " that the setting up of two Courts of Arbitration would be bound to result in conflicting decisions being reached, and if the disputes in respect of woollen mill workers and clothing trade workers had been adjudicated upon by the same tribunal, the decision in the latter case might have been different. Subsequent to its standard wage pronouncement in respect to hourly workers the court, there being then only one court, intimated that in the absence of any special circumstances it would increase the weekly wages of adult male workers by ss, and it was reasonable to expect that the proportionate increase for adult females would not be more than 2s 6d per week, thus bringing the standard rate for females on weekly employment to £2 7s 6d. “I am not entirely in agreement with Mr Macdonald,” Mr Cookson said, “on the question whether the court is concerned in the ability of an industry to pay. In past years that argument has been used on very many occasions, but in my exerience it has not been possible to induce the court to give consideration to any other factor than what it may have regarded as a reasonable wage, irrespective of the state of the industry concerned or its ability to pay.”