PRICE OF BREAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27112, 21 June 1949, Page 4

PRICE OF BREAD

NEED FOR INCREASE EFFECT OF WAGE RISES As a result of the recent wage increases granted by the Arbitration Court, master bakers in Dunedin are experiencing the greatest difficulty in supplying the public with bread at the old fixed price. Nothing less than an increase of Id in the price of a 21b loaf is required to solve the problems that are confronting the trade. This information was given the Daily Times yesterday when master bakers in the city were asked to comment on the decision of the Franklin Master Bakers’ Sub-association to charge an extra Id on the 21b loaf after July 1 next The national president of the New Zealand Master Bakers’ Federation, Mjr A. T. Robertson, of Dunedin, declined to comment. What the Franklin bakers decided was their own business, he said., Other master bakers in Dunedin, however, had more to say! They mentioned that bakery employees worked a 40-hour five-day week, which meant overtime to ensure the week-end supply of bread. On Friday, sufficient bread had to be baked for that day, as well as Saturday, Sunday, and some for Monday. The men worked long hours on Fridays—in some cases, from 5.30 p.m. to 8 a.m. It was really three days’ work in one, and there were cases where it was all paid at time and a-half, and double time. Although the award wage was £8 Is 4d a week, the extra rates under the penalty clauses brought the wages in many cases to £l2 or more a week. With the retail price of bread fixed, master bakers, it was stated, were finding difficulty in recouping their expenditure on wages and on machinery, which had also advanced in price. Master bakers with a .small number of customers were in the worst position. City bakers were now supplying country districts as far afield as Waikouaiti, Balclutha. and Central Otago. If the cpuntry bakers did not receive a little more for their bread, then many of them might be forced out of business. , „ , It was generally contended that the people of Dunedin received the best bread in New Zealand and that they were unlikely to object to paying an extra Id for a 21b loaf. Master, bakers said that an incf-ease in the price was essential, but whether the extra came direct from the public or indirectly in the form of a subsidy would be for the authorities to decide. The proposed action by the Franklin bakers appeared to be illegal, and the outcome of it would be watched with interest by Dunedin bakers.