CARPENTERS AT VARIANCE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 18, 26 February 1914, Page 3

CARPENTERS AT VARIANCE.

CANTERBURY UNION AND THE AMALGAMATED SOCIETY. EEPORT 'ON CONCILIATION " eooNcn.. There are/in North Canterbury two trade unions, of carpenters and joiners. One uni«n is the Amalgamated Society ' of Carpenters and Joiners, which cotiiihe operations of a trade union and benefit society, and is a world-wide organisation. The other is the Canterbury Carpenters' Union, a provincial body formed some twenty-five yeass ago, which is purely a trade union. in the past the two bodies have contrived to ..work ... amicably together in meetimg the builders and contractors • as to trade conditions, but there appears to have been a serious hiatus this year. The Canterbury Union's view of the matter' was discussed at a large meeting of .members which was held last evening. A brief ; explanation of the position •was made by F. Eldridge, secretary of the union. He said that in November last a conference was held in Wanganui for the purpose of framinga Dominion award. The conference was between the Amalgamated Society and the Builders' and Contractors' Association. The union was not invited to attend the conference, but -he had, as instructed, «ent protests to the executive, of the Amalgamated Society, also to the local branch of that society, and thirdly to the conference itself.. The protest was against, the conference framing a Dominion award without consulting the Carpenters' Union. He received a reply from Mr Hazell that the society did not wish to ignore the union, and that anything i-t objected to it could ask - the. Arbitration .Court to amend. The conference itself did not consider it •worth while to. repiy. Immediately after the, conference was held the union had a request from the Amalgamated Society to frame an award, and the joint committee of the two bodies met. -The society brought down the "abor-, tion of an agreement" arrived at at Wanganui, but the Canterbury carpenters could not agree to the bulk of the decisions arrived :, at. They got 1/- a day increase, but on the other hand they lost far too much. Mr Eldridge then dealt with the subsequent procedure, which was more fully explained by Mr Barr. He added that Mr Hazell claimed to have attempted to effect a reconciliation between the two bodies, but actually he made no attempt to do so.. The union had not erred or strayed from the procedure which had been followed during the past 15 years,,but the i Amalgamated Society had strayed. HON. J.-BARB'S REPORT. The Hon. J. Barr, who represented the Union at the sitting of the Conciliation Council, made an interesting report covering the negotiations between the * Amalgamated Society and the Union, and then the proceedings before the Conciliation Commissioner. ' Mr Barr said that: —"As one of the assessors of the Amalgamated Society was Mr Ivor Hazell, and as he had a good deal to say about the organisation as a whole, I may be justified in concluding that the assessors represented not only the local unions but the organisation as a whole. As the Amal-! gamated Society had cited the Canter- i bury Carpenters and Joiners' Union as parties to the r dispute, your secretary and myself, as your legally authorised representatives, were enabled to be present, and entitled to take part in the proceedings. ' A UNIQUE SITUATION. The fact of one union of Workers being cited as a party to a dispute by another union of workers is, I believe, without precedent, at least I know of no case since the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act came into force. This gives the present case a peculiar interest, together with the fact that both unions cited the employers, and both unions submitted conditions of labour. I am Well aware that at the same time the relations between the . individual members ;Cijf. the unions in Christcliureh are as friendly as they have always been, and I feel sure the joint committee of representatives of the two unions will continue to work with the harmony and good fellowship that has been evinced in the past. <.,« EVENTS .REVIEWED.. The peculiar' nature ' of our present -position makes it. aecessarv, in mx

opinion, that I should review what has taken place prior to your conditions of labour being submitted to the employers. As in all , past years when fresh conditions were to be considered, the joint committee of the two unions mtt and drafted basic proposals. That having been done a joint meeting of all the members of the two unions was held. That meeting represented the carpenters &nd joiners of Christchurch and district. I would remind you rhat, as in the past, the conditions submitted as drafted by the joint committee, were substantially amended, thcAv-ug that the membeis present took an active interest in every Clause submitted. A NEW DEPARTURE. In the past the custom was to submit the conditions agreed to at such a meeting to-the employers. On this occasion, the officials of the Amalgamated Society refused to do so, and determined to adopt conditions arrived at in Dunedin and at Wanganui, and which Were withi one principle exception inferior to the conditions drawn up by the join,t meeting of members of the two' unions. On the other hand this union, the Canterbury Carpenters' Union, de-' termined, as you are all aware, to abide by the of the joint meeting, and the > conditions agreed upon were submitted to the employers in the part of the industrial district to which the present award applies. AT THE; CONCILIATION COUNCIL. As this} union was cited as a party to the dispute, Mr Eldridge arid myself appeared as instructed on your behalf, and after |ome time spent in explaining to the Commissioner the peculiarity of the position, it was decided by all parties that the representatives of the two unions should sit together with the object of arriving at some common understandings and that the employers' representatives should adjourn until 2.30 p.m. The only other assessor who was get-at-able was Mr Rusbridge. Him we graciously gave sufficient time to take his apron off and hurry to the meeting. At that meeting a working arrangement was arrived at on most points. The arrangement was particularly satisfactory to your representatives, as improvements were inserted from your union's conditions. It is true that the Amalgamated's representatives had a number of amendments typed, but as most of them were substantially what was in our printed proposals, we could only congratulate the Amalgamated officials for their wisdom in arriving at our way of thinking even at the last minute. I regret, however, that one of the most important amendments that' appeared on the Amalgamated's list was strenuously opposed by them when it came to be discussed with the employers. The difficulty of the two unions having been apparently got over the Council resumed in the afternoon. THE DECISIONS REVIEWED. Mr Barr . then took the clauses in the Conciliation Council's recommendations seriatim, and explained and commented on them. He pointed out that the union's representatives had been instrumental in having the proposals of the Amalgamated Society altered in many of the clauses to the advantage of the trade. Referring to the preference clause, Mr Barr said: —This was a most vital clause to your union, for if it had been passed as submitted by the Amalgamated Society it would have meant the end of your union, as only the union submitting the conditions was specified. It was, however, amended by inserting the names of both unions, and wherever necessary, making reference to the twb unions instead of the one, so that the position is as it has been since the first award, which is longer than most of you can remember. ' UNDER-RATE WORKERS. Mr Barr made a lengthy reference to this clause, which had caused him some perturbation. "In my opinion," he said, "the provision contained in this clause means a decided stepping backward, and will tend to a large extent to nullify the effect of the increase in wages. This clause, as submitted by your union, and as you have been working under for very many years, provided that 'any worker who has been not less than five years at the trade, and who is not capable of earning the minimum wage by reason of old age, infirmity, or imperfect training, may be paid such wages as may be agreed upon between such worker and the secretary of the Joint Committee and the president of the. Canterbury Builders and Contractors' Association.' It also provided for a minimum rate. STRUCK OUT. "In the Amalgamated's proposals, the five years' qualification is struck

.out, and now 'any worker who con-siders-himself incapable of earning the minimum wage' may make application to the Inspector of Factories to have a rate fixed, which means, I submit, that any man who can prove that he has spent any time as a carpenter, who has done carpentry work, and has received payment for such work as a carpenter is entitled to a permit. Furthermore, the abolition of the minimum wage for under-rate workers makes it a great menace to your trade. A REMARKABLE OCCURRENCE.. "•I cannot refrain from reporting the following remarkable occurrence in conr nection with this clause. The Amalga-. mated submitted the following amongst their typewritten amendments:— 'Under-rate workers, add new section G.' No permit shail be granted for a lower rate of wages than 9/- per day.' , When the representatives of the two bodies were in conference this was agreed to, but when subsequently submitted to the full council the Amalgamated representatives r opposed it, with one exception. One. member of the Amalgamated strenuously supported it, but their actiial Mr Ivor. Hazell, as strenuously opposed it, with the ultimate result that the, supporter of a minimum in their ranks had to capitulate. The employers, it seemed to me;' « recognised that this was the clause that was to enable them to make good the increase in wages granted, and admitted that their instructions were to stick hard and fast to the clause as worded. They know the value of it to the employers. «I know the evil of it to the workers in your trade, but, as the employers had a strong ally in Mr Ivor Hazell, and as his members were forced to follow him, the clause was carried, and we will have to oppose it «t the Court of Arbitration.' THE FIGHT. "Taken as a whole, Wednesday's fight was a fight to prevent the workers in your industry from being dragged backward. The. amendments to the conditions submitted by the Amalgamated show that we were successful. Our only regret is that we could, not improve that greatest of all blots submitted by the Amalgamated Society—namely, the . under-rate workers' clause. I'm afraid this is one more of the many cases where workmen's minds have been so filled with the thought of increased income at one point that they have neglected methods adopted as discounting its value at other points.'' A BRIEF DISCUSSION. Mr Barr's statement was received with applause, and the union's represenbefore the Conciliation Council were congratulated on the success they had achieved. Some comment was made on the action of the Amalgamated Society in citing the union as a party, but it was explained that, though this was not considered the proper thing for one union to do to another, it was a most fortuitous circumstance that the Amalgamated Society had taken that course. The secretary said that had the union not been cited the Conciliation Council would have passed the Dunedin award, with all its iniquities, and the union would have been entirely out of Court. A member thought that the Act should be amended so that where there were two unions they should have to cite conjointly. No one union should be allowed to cite the employers on its own account. Mr Rusbridge said that it should be emphasised that the uniofi had never agreed to the principle of a Dominion award in the carpenters and joiners' trade. The union representatives were cor-, dially thanked.