ARBITRATION COURT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10932, 28 March 1907, Page 2

ARBITRATION COURT.

The Arbitration Court continued their *, Gisborne sittings at 10 a.m. to-day m the s Magistrate's Courthouse. {-. COMPENSATION. ]_ James Daly (Mr Sainsbury) v. James „ Bartholomew Leydon (Mi* G. Stock), «. claim for compensation. — Mr Stock stated ] that tlie matter had been settled, and it was accordingly struck out. T FREEZERS' DISPUTE. ( Poverty Bay Freezing Works Industrial t Union of Workers v. Messrs Nelson Bros. < and the Gisborne Sheepfarmers' Frozen £ Meat Co.— Mr R. F. Way (Auckland) ap. , peared on behalf of the Union, witli | Messrs Peterson (President) and T. Jack- -, son (secretary). Mr H. G. Warren ap- i peared for Nelson Bros., and Mr W. F. • Cederwall for the Gisborne Sheepfarmers' ■, Freezing Ob. — In reply to his Honor, Mr ( Way said the parties met yesterday af- ( ternoon to try and arrange terms, and a • special meeting of tlieTJnion was held last ■ evening, but generally speaking no con- 1 elusion was come to between the two pur- . ties. There might be minor things which * would be agreed upon, but the big issuers \ were not touched on at all. As far as the wages question was concerned there was no counter proposal made by defend- ■ ants. Practically- nothing was settled. — Mr Warren stated the representatives of : the employers met tlie Union's delegates yest6rday afternoon, and certain clauses m the demands were considered. It might have been possible to come to an agreement, but he was sorry to say that tlie representatives of the employers dis- ■ covered it was all "take" and no "give" on the part of th c Union. They also discovered that the three Union delegates were not authorised to conclude anytliing on behalf of the Union, and that everything they proposed had to be submitted to the Union, and m view of that it was quite impossible for them to come to any agreement.— Mr Way said according to the rules of the Union, no delegate had power to make an agreement without the sanction ofthe Union,. and m order to. get the* Union's consent it was necessary to hold a meeting.,i:The attitude of 'ihe employers was m ;_eV;d'_ , ecti<ai;-6f 'cutting everything ao\v'n/.„. The.' Uhibn\ came to certain resolutions as" to what they would accept as a compromise, but the parties stuck on clause one, the regulations as to the hours of labor, and the employers considered that as they could not come to a settlement on this it was useless to go further. Mr Way, m opening the Union's case, proceeded to -point out that an award was made three years ago wliich -was practically based on conditions existing some cm e ago. They now asked for an award upon present-day circumstances.' Tlie employers had always m the past pointed out the possibilities of their having bad times m the future, but their gloomy prognostications had not been realised. MrWay quoted from a balance-sheet of the Company m support of his statement that; starting with £18,000 odd capital, the Company had 'managed to get together sometldng like £80,000 worth of assets, and last year had made a profit of £18,000.— Mr Cederwall : Tliat is not correct. — Continuing, Mr Way held that the Company/could well afford to pay the men decently for the gigantic success. T'lie , "work which the men had to do was of a ■ most disgusting nature, they liad to work ( m filth all day, and were consequently asking for lavatory accommodation. There t had been no alteration m the general rate , of wages to that made three years '• ago. They were the same. . " . His Honor asked how they compared \ with the recent decisions m the south. . Mr Warren remarked that they would , be prepared to deal with this. ,___" ! John Jamieson, slaughterman at Gis-" I borne works, deposed that he considered •- the demands of the men -were fair and ; reasonable^ His work had extended over j ten months, but really only constituted , six months' continuous work. The usual ; hour for starting slaughtering was 7 .or 8 ; o'clock. He saw no reason why. the ; works could not be regulated if they, all ; started at 7 o'clock. He considered 80 sheep -was. a good day's rate, and over that should be paid overtime. Some of the butchers who came through the town had to dress m the pens. He considered it absolutely necessary to have some 'dressing rooms and lavatories. Mr Cederwall said l r the employers' were quite prepared to provide improved accommodation for the men, but not _to tlie extent asked for. They wanted individual accommodation which' ; was impossible as Mr Way remarked it was absolutely necessary and should be ■ law. His Honor: Can you make it law ? *. Mr Way : Not unless you put it m this * .award.— Continuing, witness said he objected. to being required to wash down - the grating and board on which they * were lulling. The men at the Taruheru works understood the bonus they reL ceived was for this purpose..— By Mr * Cederwall: Regarding wool sheep, the * Union asked for an increase at a certain time of the season. He admitted ** this had not been demanded last sitting j- of. the Court. He was one of the men 1 who signed the agreement on the 23s 1 basis. He did not know the conditions V outside or .why they should ask more than was awarded m the South but ' with his. tally of. 104 m 9 hours lie was fairly fagged out.— Mr Cederwall pro--1 ceeded to quote witness's tallies tp show * that he had done 100 to 130 on wooliy ' sheep. He put up a ta lly of 146 on New | Year's-. Dav,j including ovei-time.rr-Wil-l ness considered ; 7 a.m. a fair 'hour to 5 start work. The gut houso would get a '. start m ten minutes at Nelson Bros. ; it •• would not take an houiv A fair working basis was 8 to 10. He thought it fair ' that they should- get overtime for ail 1 sheep killed above the rate of ten an 3 hour: Witness did not know that this * was not given elsewhere; he had not 1 worked out of the, district. —By Mr Warren: It was four years sjn.ee he had 5 left Nelson Bros.', and" there was then no talk about the men not* washing down " their boards. ' The bonus was paid as ah inducement to the men to stick to the ' board till the end of the season.— ln ? reply to Mr Cederwall, who asked if the ■ conditions at the Gisborne works were the same as -when, the award was made, * witness said there was only one small improvement.*-'By' Mr Way:" The tallies mentioned were for 9 hours, and. Were not a criterion of what a man could do i m eight hours. He did not know the ' day and dates quoted by Mr Cederwall. 1 Thomas Jackson, secretary to the' Un- ! _ ion, considered the demands of the Union fail* and reasonable: Eighty a day was a fair tally. The reason for the increase '. asked m the case of woolly " slieep was that the latter, m travelling long distances got their wool full of dust ? and became matted, hence the butchers' knives became dull and it took longer ' tb do the sheep. Witness : liad worked nt Islington ana elsewhere,, and he could say that there were only a few .ree_iiig _ works m the colony .yhere the butchers had to wash down their boards. This 7 was generally clone " by tlie rouseabout-. The men did not think the prices they * were asking were at' all fancy ones. Elsewhore most of the sheep were trucked to the works,- but here they had to travel long distances and were harder a to kill.— By Mr Cederwall: Witness was ' one of those who had signed the agree-' " ment to work for 23s a hundred. He was s not aware that nearly all the freezing works m the North Jsland had agreed > to work on the 23s a hundred basis. ' Witness stated* that it was correct that 1 he had killed 597 m one week, but tliis \ he considered was the maximum. There J were more woolly sheep now than -there' were m previous years. Th_ butchers I ' were called to kill and dress the sheep - and should not be expected to do any- 1 > thing outside of this. He thought the ' slaughtermen's assistants should get more than 10_d an hour, the Canterbury award . '' rate, on account of tlie different circum- j stances m Gisborne and higher cost of j 1 living. There were no material diil'cr- ■ ences m the work since the Gisborne ' award was made three years ago, the ' demands having been made owing to the - reasons given. The. men thought that * the work they were doing was worth more ancl that they were entitled to tho "smoke-ho" asked for.— By Mr Warren: r There were 200 members of the Union. ' In January he had sent away a list ol 1 145 unfinancial members., and a large ' number had joined since.— By Mr Way : - In regard to the preference clause, the ! Union had got no help from t-lie cm--1 ployers m getting men to join the Union! — His Honor : Do the employers ob--1 ject to the preference clause? — Mr Ccder--1 wall: We are objecting. — Mr Way : We ' intend asking for amendments which will ; make it more like a preference clause. 1 Witness, m reply to Mr Way, said he * would not be able to say whether Ids ' .tallies -.us quoted by Mr Cederwall are! i correct. Mr Cederwall had quoted him..' ' as killing 130 on New Year's Day, and ( lie was sure he had not done that many ■ that day. Sheep were sometimes m the ' * paddock three or four days without water, ' and this made them harder to kill. It j 1 was necessary that a place should be pro- ' vided for the men to dress m. At pre- ' sent the freezing chamber .hands dressed m the bullock pen. B. J. Prosser 6tated be had experience as a slaughterman all over New Zealand and m Australia. The demands Avere real fair for this country's stuff. Sheep j here were harder owing to the long distances travelled and the want of water. ' "I'm leaving Gisborne. Too hard for j me," remarked the witness, who also! emphatically affirmed that he would' not do the gut work at the price, while the "smoke oh" wanted was absolutely esscn- ! - tial. He had been paid £1 a hundred , elsewhere, and notliing higher. Lavatories and dressing-rooms were necessary. There was no objection to starting at 7. Ten an hour was a fair thing. The biggest percentage of slaughtermen did not , do ten an hour. There were exception- j * ally smart slaughtermen m the bay. Big ! boys able to do the work of a man • should be paid the wages of a man. — By Mr Cederwall : Tlie men here were faster j than m Canterbury. The mujority of j the fast men here had learned here, and were accustomed to handle the local sheep. Witness liad worked alongside of a boy who could do as much as a man. ■ —By Mr Wan-en: Witness left Nelson * Bras.' of his* own accord, as he *wasdis- \ gusted with the stuff he had to handle. | Most of the sheep m Canterbury were ; trucked^ In Wellington the sheep were [driven, 'but not 50 much as m Gisborne.

From Ciustlcpoiiit was tlit* longest drive for sheep m Wellington; also m Wellington tho sheep were kept overnight, but here he had had to wait 20 minutes for sheep brought m oil' the road to cool. Slaughtermen came here from the South, but only to get the cream of the season, and (hey returned South. He was goin,? South as soon as he could — they could have the Bay as far as he was concerned, j Albert Reid, working m the gut de- i partment at Kaiti, thought lhe work was { worth 9s. He would sooner do the out- j side work at Bs. The gut hands were entitled to a smoke-oh. " They dressed j and undressed m the gut-room, amongst . all the filth, ancl had to keep up to the j butchers, without any increase of pay i when there was a.. high slaughtering '. tally. A lavatory and die-_jing-room was J absolutely necessary. The gut hands ( were asking that each time they were , called out they should be paid for half-a- t day. As to gloves, leggings, etc., ii a ( man prayed for a pair of leggings he might get one, but it was better to buy . tliem outside. It was fair that if v boy ' of 19 did a man's work that he should receive a man's pay.— By Mr Cederwall : He cpuld not say anytliing about work ' m other places. He had only been al tlie business a season, and stayed on at the gut work because jic thought he might as well go on and get thc best of the season now he had got through the bad. Witness was sure that no extra mer. were put. on when the slaughtering increased from 10 to 12 hours. , He did not know that it was noted that the men m the gut works bore the healthiest look ■ — he only knew that there was a very healthy smell. Mr Brown said the same thing applied to tlie sewerage men m London. He would not like to tackle the work, but it was a fact that they appeared extremely healthy.— Mr Cederwall said the gut hands looked the healthiest, and were the biggest eaters.— Mr Way: If they are the biggest eaters they should get more. Witness, continuing, said -■■ he thought boys should be given more here than elsewhere, on account of the dearness^ of board, which cost -61 aiid 21s here. H. B. Havers, gut-house hand, stated he" was paid 7s for 8 hours' work, and was asking 9s. The Union demands were fair and iiece-sary. He thought that the day's work could be done between 7 and 5 p.m. without any difficulty as far a. the employers were concerned. Charles Fisher, cooling floor, hand, stated that 9s a day was a fair rate for the cooling floor hands. Having to get up at 3 a.ni; it was necessary to go to bed soon after tea m order to get a decent night's sleep. Lavatories and dressing rooms were necessary. He had experience of boning work, which required skill.'-— By .Mr* Cederwall : There whs no bodily work m the cooling floor work except pushing the carcases along the rails. Witness agreed that 1900 was the highest that the Gisborne works had handled m the one day. Besides ; Kruger, Murray at the Gisborne works had been boning all his life and might , be considered an expert. . The conditions of work on the cooling' floor were the same as at the time of the previous award. — By Mr Way: The idea of fixing the overtime for the holidays was to secure it by making payment prohibitiv*-* if they had to work. Geo. Jarrett, cooling floor hand, Kaiti, endoised the previous witness's stater ment. — By Mr Cederwall : Witness had , been at the Gis_o-n_ works four years. [ There was no difference m the conditions '. that existed at the time of the previous award. They were paid overtime if they started before 6 a.m. or worked after 6 p.m. The only laborious work, done by I witness was pissing the carcases from above to the freezing chamber.— By Mr ■-l-'-y.a^-J a_ii_- jrf^ f - n)| - | h^ . Un *nn receive the *. last award ?— _iis korrW:"'*M l^«^*t^ l W_^ [• we can go into; that. * - . < A. Blair, freezing chamber hand, i Kaiti, considered his work was worth Is j 6d an hour. At present they got Is an I hour and Is 3d. overtime. The wharf ( laborers m the fresh air receiving the * carcases got 6d a hundred, and could do I 1000 per hour, thus making. ss. Witness did not work throughout the season, and | only worked pail of the time. If a j man was called out to do night work he should be paid overtime. Boots and ' clothes were worn out very quickly at this class of work.— By Mr Cederwall: The present was his second* season. The wharf laborers were only employed ai * loading time, but he considered iti a fair compari-ou, as these men got other work on the wharf. The work was heaviev [ here than m Canterbury.— -Re-axamined ' by Mr Way: He considered they were ; doing as heavy work as the wharf labor- ' ers, and m addition to this they were m ' the cold. He had had* to carry two t sheep as far as 40 yards. •-' James Henry Harvey, a freezing chamber hand at Taruheru works, stated J that he understood that they were not 5 able at the Kaiti. works to arrange for a " Saturday half-holiday. He agreed with j the opinions of the previous witnesses. r They objected to having to wait for a ■ period of ""3 to" 4 hour*?. When the but-' . chers finished at 5 p.m. they would have | to wait on until 8 o'clock. They had a [ changing, room at Nelson! Bros, and were ' also found m smocks.— By Mr Warren: . When the butchers finish at sor 5.30 balance of the day's killing is put m the , chamber about 3 or 4 hours later after . the carcases had cooled down. He could ' t not suggest a better method, unless they started m the morning before the butj chers, about 4 p.m.— Mr Slater : The men L were there 3 hours doing nothing.— Con-, t tinuing, witness said that the dressing room accommodation at Nelson was satis- * factory. He had never done any SunI day's work. If the balance of a day s 1 killing, was put m the chamber the fols . lowing morning it would mean Sunday j. morning work for the chamber hands. At this stage the Court adjourned until I 2.15. ' The proposals brought forward by the employers are briefly as follow :— Hours { of labor, as m existing award; overtime, 3 do.; rate of. u-.g„, slaughtermen, cooling \ hands, fat-house hands, gut sorters, mane ure and blood crushing, as m existing 3 award; boners' ls per .hour. Fcllmonj .gers : Fellmongens, preserving depart--1 ment tinsmiths, general hands, freezing s .chamber hands, engine-room, boys, and _ youths, aii .as m existing award. Exemp--3 tions and holidays, s ame as m existing c award. Night watchman, £3 per week . of 7 nights, l2 hours each (ho work). Pre- . ierance : They ask that' the Court amend , .this clause to. "no disci-imination." They f contend that the Union m Poverty Bay 3 does not control a majority of workers m j tins industry, and employers are hamperr ed 'al times by not being m a position to _ employ any man at a niinute's notice. ;' General clauses .:— Dressing-rooms, etc.: L . Both companies are prepared to extend \ amd improve present accommodation. 1 vThey aigree to provide gloves as m existj mg award, but *not clothes. Nelson Bros. 3 see no reason for discontinuing their iigrees ,ment with slaughtermen re washing down. ; . Tlie sj'stem has been m force a long time J if and is by no means a "one-sided-' one! . ,Half day's pay: They ask for this clause . -to be struck. out. The demand might he , ..made to cut both ways. Spells agreed to, r -but to be ten minutes' duration as pro-' s by existing award, _u( only to ap- . -ply to slaughterhouse and freezing cham. s -ber hands. It would be impracticable for t ,the whole of the works to stand idle for a 1 spell each morning find afternoon so that . .all kinds should sit down and have their t "smoke-ho." A number of the other dei niands are agreed 'to. j \ John H. Baldwin,' fellmonger, Kaiti j works, supported the claims of this de--3 ipartment. They had no "smoke-ho" m ) .the fellmongery. H e considered it would - .be practically impossible for them to hav c j^v Saturday half -holiday. He had served jl«ii every portion of the department, and l, 'hod Ibeen eleven years m the. district.— - jlßy Mr Cederwall: He knew of no award [j (giving fellmohgers a "smoke-ho," but - they were never stopped smoking at Nel- ;■ -son Bros. Fridays' work tin heel out by j '(the butchers would take 10. hours to dis- > /pose of. He believed the men could live i '-cheaper m the South, and thus perhaps l ''Sifford to work a little cheaper.— By Mr s Way: There was only the one class (painters) who liad to stay an hour after . the (butchers knocked off on Saturdays. G'jsborne was the most- expensive place s lie had lived at. He considered the demands they were asking was only reasons able, as it was skilled work. — By Mr 'Cederwall: He was at the Kaiti -works when the award wis made three yearn ago ■and the conditions of work were the same •'* the plant was improved.— -By Mr" Way • They kept one going hard all the day. Alfiecl Ingram, a puller m Nelson Bros ' Ifellmongery department, * deposed that ,|Keeves, a local contract man. paid dollvtoen and pullers l s 3d per hour.— B T Mr ijßrowrn • He employed two day men and ,one contractor.-By Mr Warren: The of M-ork were the same as three j years ago. If the award gave a half-holi-,lday on Saturdays, he did not think he, «s a puller, would be able to take advan- * Vt. fe i lmo »g ei, y always -*V!?- T - b !** n - 1 tlle butcners. By starting fit I m tl*e mornmg they would have to .■work overtime at night.