NOT ESTABLISHED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27039, 25 March 1949, Page 6

NOT ESTABLISHED

CLAIM FOR WAGE INCREASE EMPLOYERS’ SUBMISSIONS PA WELLINGTON, Mar. 24. The case submitted by the New Zealand Federation of Labour did not establish its claim for an increase of 6d an hour in the standard rates of wages, contended Mr H. F. Butland in the Court of Arbitration to-day. He was summing up the case of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation for a standard wage pronouncement. When the employers’ case was completed this afternoon Judge Tyndall granted an adjournment till 10 a.m. next Tuesday. The court will then hear the reply of the secretary of the Federation of Labour. Mr K. McL. Baxter. The hearing is expected to finish that day. At the adjournament to-day, his Honor asked both parties to make some submissions when the court resumes about the date on which amendments to the awards should take effect should the court make a pronouncement granting a wage increase The submissions of the Federation of Labour did not demonstrate that an increase of 6d an hour in the standard wage rates could be made without impairing the economic stability of New Zealand, Mr Butland said in his summing up. They did not prove that relative movements in the incomes of different sections of the community were such that the relative position of- the wages and salary group had deteriorated. “The employers’ application for a standard wage pronouncement is made for the purpose of obtaining an authoritative wage basis upon which industrial disputes can be settled and to which existing awards rates can be adjusted,” Mr Butland continued. “Allowance was made in the 1947 pronouncement for increased wage rates to compensate for prospective price increases in some commodities when subsidies were withdrawn, and no further allowance should be made therefore.” The economic position of the farming industry, he proceeded, was such that any increase in the standard rates of wages, which would increase the cost of production, might jeopardise the economic stability of industry and necessitate payments from the reserve funds or from the Consolidated Fund, to support it. The provision of adequate reserves for the replacement of plant and machinery at the current cost was essential. “In the Government Statistician's tables, company income tends to be over-estimated because income tax is allowed on the previous year’s lower income and full allowance for the replacement of plant at current prices is not made,” he continued. “The tables of the national income do not lend themselves to the interpretation placed upon them by Mr Baxter that, since 1947, the gap between salary and wage earners and other sections of the community had widened.” An increase in wage rates without a corresponding increase in the volumt of consumer goods and services available would neither benefit the workers nor promote the economic stalijbilty of New Zealand, Mi Butland said. He added that in computing incomes for the purpose of regulation 398 (4) (P> of the Economic Stabilisation Emergency Regulations, benefits from the social security fund and other income must be included.