WORK AND WAGES

Southland Times, Issue 18962, 8 June 1923, Page 6

WORK AND WAGES

OVERTIME ON WATERFRONT. WORKERS PROCEEDED AGAINST. (Per United Press Association). WELLINGTON, June 7. The dispute which involved workers on the Wellington waterfront in connection with the working of overtime after 5 p.m. on Saturdays, reached an important stage to-day, when the Labour Department proceeded against 41 coal and cargo workers on the ground that they had defeated the provisions of the Waterside Workers’ ' Award by refusing to work overtime. It was decided to take the case of one worker as a test case, and decide other cases on it. On April 4, the Union Company’s Mararoa was delayed cn the trip from Lyttelton, arriving at 4 p.m. When advice of the delay was received the men engaged at 1 p.m. to work the vessel were addressed on the importance of completing bunkering and cargo discharging, it being emphasised (hat the work would be necessary after 5. It was stated that the case was exceptional. The men after taking a ballot declined to work overtime and knocked off at 5. Had the men worked, the vessel could have got away some hours earlier. A representative of the Labour Department quoted the award and the law to show that the men must complete one job before taking another except under certain conditions. Decision was reserved until Thursday next. SHOP ASSISTANTS. ONE BIG UNION PROPOSAL. WELLINGTON, June 7. Organisation along the lines of the Alliance of Labour appears to be finding favour among an increasing number of workers throughout the Dominion and the principal seems to be gaining acceptance, even with certain sections whose ideas on industrial matters do not altogether coincide with those of the Alliance. The latest body of workers who are considering the question of federating are those engaged in shops, and a step forward in this direction, a conference, was held in Wellington this week between representatives of the New Zaland Shop Assistants’ Fderation and the New Zealand Operative Butchers’ Federation, the proposal for consideration being ths amalgamation of two organisations. The

discussion resulted in considerable progress being made and it is hoped that within the next two or three months amalgamation will have been effected, thus completing the initial move for the consol’d ’•< * r ’’ shop-workers in the Dominion in one national federation. The ji . ■ mation has been mooted for a long lime past, but up to the present nothing has been done towards carrying the idea into effect. Although the proposal is being confined for the present to butchers and several classes of workers represented by the Shop Assistants’ Federation, including drapers, it is hoped ultimately that the new movement will embrace every shop trade from hairdressers to grocers. BUILDING TRADE WORKERS. FEDERATION PROPOSALS. WELLINGTON, June 7. Good progress has been made up to a point in connection with a proposal to form a federation composed of all unions engaged in the building industry. The idea has been approved in Wellington, Canterbury and Otago, but Auckland, has so far, not come into ; >e. It is stated to be the failure of Auckland to take active steps in connection with the matter, which is delaying the prosecution of thr project. A draft constitution for proposed federation has been drawn up, but final ratification is awaited from the building trade? unions in Auckland, before the scheme can be placed upon a definite basis. Once Auckland signifies its adhesion to the proposals and the federation become an actual fact, steps will be nut into train towards effecting some dr; ret of uniformity in conditions obtaining in different building trades. It is net altogether expected that it will be possible to secure exactly one set of wages for all classes of artisans engaged in the industry, but it is hoped to get some improvement on the conditions now prevailing and co-ordinate the interests of different sections cf building trade workers.