AN OLD DISPUTE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 641, 18 April 1929, Page 10

AN OLD DISPUTE

STONEMASONS’ CLAIMS ARBITRATION HEARING Tie hearing of the long-standing dis- j pute between the Auckland Stone- j masons’ and Monumental Workers' ! Industrial Union of Workers (appli- ] cants)" and the Auckland Builders’ Association and other employers (respondents)' was commenced at the Arbitration Court this morning. Mr. Justice Fraser had associated with him Mr. L. J. Schmitt (for the employers) and Mr. A. ]_>. Monteitli (for the employees). Mr. J. Purtell stated the applicants’ claim, and Mr. S. E. Wright appeared on behalf of the respondents. The union submitted the following statement of claim:— • HOURS OF WORK The union is claiming a five-day week of 40 hours for all branches of the trade, for which evidence will be tendered showing the unhealthy nature of the occupation, especially with respect to the action of dust on the lungs. In the,masonry trade it was practically impossible to use water for remedying the dust nuisance. The claim reminded the court of Dr. T. J. Hughes’s statement “that it was absolutely criminal to expect men to work machines” which are now being used. The introduction of pneumatic tools had been responsible for the introduction of noise and vibration. The only remedy as a set-off against noise, vibration and dust, was shorter hours. WAGES CLAIM The employees claimed a uniform rate of wages for the various classes in the industry. The present custom of builder-masons showed that wages ranged from 2s 1 1 d to 3s an hour. The present state of affairs was unfair to employers and workers. The claim was for a uniform rate of wages to place all employers on equal terms, and also to defeat the employer who is ready to take advantage of the unemployment market. In other countries carvers were paid more than the ordinary ftnason, and the claimants saw no reason why the same principle should not be adopted here. At present polishers of the union were simply paid labourer's rates of wages. Cemetery hands and saw-tenders was another phase of the award where skilled, men were In receipt of little more than labourers’ wages. The claim emphasised the necessity of these workers receiving a higher rate of wages, as they have to possess a knowledge of half a dozen different trades. Increased wages were also claimed for saw tenders qnd yard men. PUBLIC HOLIDAYS The claim asked for 14 days’ payment a year, to Include the public h6lidays and the four intervening days between Boxing Day and New Year's Day. AVitb reference to the country workclause, the employees considered it. dangerous Iu the extreme, as it enabled employers to force the worker when engaged on country work, to work longer than the prescribed eight-hour day, without payment of overtime rates. The absence of a country worker from his home was an aspect, which the claim maintained should entitle the worker to overtime rates. In giving evidence, James Dunlop, a stonemason, who had been in the trade for 22 years in Scotland, England, Ireland and New Zealand, said the vibration caused deadness of the arms at night and sleeplessness. John Patrick Hastings, a medical man, gave evidence to show that the mortality of stonemasons was very high. He thought no person with a full knowledge- of the hazards of the occupation would ever take it up. It seemed improbable that employers fully realised the. effect of psychosis on their men. He also dealt with the effect of noise on the central nervous system. In reply to a question by Ins Honour Mr. Hastings said lie thought a 40-hour week was quite long enough for stonemasons. William Edward Parry, with about 20 years’ experience as a miner, certiorated Dr. Hastings’s evidence. He had sat on a commission in 1911. which visited practically all the mines in New Zealand, and dealt specially with miners’ disease. •' He had watched the development of the disease among a particularly fine bodv of men at the Waihi mines. He said that the vibration of the big machine in use was excessive. There would be more dust with the bigger drill. The smaller the calibre of the drill the less would be tlie dust and vibration. John Purdy, stonemason, said he would never touch pneumatic machines if l*e could get away from them. ( Proceeding.)