HIGHER WAGES SOUGHT

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 12, 5 April 1927, Page 1

HIGHER WAGES SOUGHT

PUBLIC WORKS LABOUR (From Our Resident Correspondent.') WELLINGTON, To-day. Greater wages for men employed on public works throughout the Dominion were asked by a deputation to the Hon. K. S. Williams, Minister of Public Works, to-day when delegates from the New Zeaalnd Workers’ Union asked for a renewal of the agreement which expired last month. It was considered by Mr. J. Townsend, president of the Workers’ Union, that the Arbitration Court, having raised wages geenrlaly by Id. per hour, and in view of the fact that the railway workers’ wages had been raised far above those of the public works korkers, the latter, also, should be increased. One point was that the railwaymen were able to work full time while the public works employees were frequently forced to work broken time. “We consider we are justly entitled to it,” he said, “but we do not want you to consider the fact that there is an overstocked labour market and two men for every job going in New Zealand to-day, because this aspect should not enter into the spirit of this agreement.” Mr. Wallace, Napier, asked for preference to public works men and said that men on isolated jobs were penalised to the extent of 20 per cent, to meet the cost of living, while, in addition, loss of time played havoc with endeavours to make ends meet. Mr. J. B. Williams, Auckland, said that in isolated northern camps workers weer suffering hardships through diffiiculty in securing adequate supplies of suitable food. Mr. H. A. McQuilkin, Miller’s Flat, asked for comfortable and weatherproof houses for men in place of the present 8 by 10ft. huts which comprised the homes of the men. He averred that men on the jobs were afraid to voice complaints because of the fear that they would “go up” on the rst opportunity of the bosses. The Hon. K. S. Williams said the wages would be gone into. Things were not too good at present, however, but he wanted, as far as possible, to retain the men who had been working for the Public Works Department for some time on a great mony jobs, particularly railway construction, hydroelectric and irrigation. Preliminary cost had to be considered before a start could be made at all, and reasonable assurance had to be secured that they would be a success. Other questions of agreement would be involved with wages question. THE 1914 STANDARD (From Our Resident Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, To-day. A comparison was advanced by Mr. A. Cook, secretary of the New Zealand Workers’ Union. It required £1 12s 7id, he said, to purchase what could be bought for £1 in 1914, and a man getting £3 a week in 1914 would require £4 17s IOAd to live up to the same standard as he enjoyed before the war. On public works men received Is 9d per hour. 14s per day, or £4 4s for a full week. One day lost every week was a conservative estimate, and this left £3 10s per week, the purchasing power of which, according to his mathematical calculation, was £2 2s 10 id, as compared with 1914. This, Mr. Cook said, was not sufficient for a man to keep himself, wife and family. One day a week lost was a small estimate. Many lost more.