CLAIMS FOR NEW AWARD

Southland Times, Issue 23406, 13 January 1938, Page 6

CLAIMS FOR NEW AWARD

DOMINION CLERICAL

WORKERS INCREASES IN WAGES SOUGHT Dominion claims have been filed for a clerical and office staff employees award to replace, among others, the existing Southland award. All districts in New Zealand are included with the exception of Canterbury and Nelson, where existing awards do not terminate for some months. In other districts, awards have been in force for almost 12 months and will soon expire, and the application for a Dominion award is designed to replace the provincial awards. The union seeks eventual y to secure an award covering the whole of New Zealand, including Canterbury and Nelson. , , A vast number of employers throughout the country will be affected by the claims, but under an amendment of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act made last session it is sufficient it a number of representative employers (to the satisfaction of the Conciliation Commissioner) is named in the application for an award, and in such case the employers named and all other employers who are engaged in any industry to which the dispute relates are deemed to be respondents. The application for the Dominion award cites a number of employers m each district, but because of the blanket provision of the amendment to the legislation all employers of clerical labour are affected. No counter proposals have yet been filed by the employers, but it is expected that they will be on a. similar basis to the present awards. Assessors for the dispute will be appointed at an early date, and it is considered likely that the parties will meet before the Conciliation Commissioner in about a month. ~ The claims of the workers provide for increases in both minimum and maximum wages. An increase in the commencing rate from 15/- to £1 a week is demanded and a maximum or £6 compared with £5 5/- provided for at present is claimed. For females 26 years of age and over a minimum of £3 15/- a week is sought. . On the question of hours, the claims base payment on a 40-hour week on five days of the week. In retail establishments and factories where an award permits employment of shop assistants or factory workers for more than 40 hours, but not exceeding 44 hours, it is proposed that clerical workers may be employed for such extra hours at ordinary rates of pay in addition to the weekly wage. In general offices where the exigencies of any business make it impossible to remain closed on Saturday morning all time worked between 8 a.m. and noon is intended to be subject to the same condition regarding pay. The Dominion claims also provide for a proportion of juniors to seniors who may be employed, and give a definition of senior and junior. In the award now operating in certain districts employers are faced with the anomaly that while the proportion of juniors to seniors is fixed, there is no definition of what constitutes a senior or a junior.