CONCILIATION BOARD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6552, 1 August 1899, Page 4

CONCILIATION BOARD.

The hearing of the industrial dispute in tbe building trade, which had been, adgourned from Thursday, was resumed at the Provincial Council Chamber at two o'clock yesterday afternoon, when the full Board jjras present. ■_*•.__ Mr Greig, in addressing the Board, said 'flmt the builders objected to paying 10s 4d relay, and considered 10s quite sufficient. Auckland the wage was 9s 4d per day. : (A. Bill would shortly, be brought before the Hoase with a view of having .the same tarard throughout NeW Zealand, and when tins w_s carried through wages in Christdinrch would come down. Mr Greig contended that jobbing builders -would be.practically ruined if compelled to pay the wages !now demanded. The Board should also consider those builders who had alhady large jobs in hand, which had ' i^eniendered for on the ten' shilling bass. tod to whom^e proposed nse would be fc very serious matter. He would like the board to put ma claase providing .that fewry workman should hare a good tot of tooJs, and another clause providing. that an fendiffarent workman should pay or aU fte material he spoiled. He as&ed the IJbard to &&* out P^ 0 , 1 * 1011 cla^?' tefae-tihouditdt a. -cruel. thing tha* one class hf mm should be allowed to live while kaoGhBS class wua not. The inferior men teem already afc a disa-dvantage, and now the Board was father handicapping them. Efafe would pat tihe vsbole power into the bands of the Unions, who would simply Wade the inferior men out of all chance >of to existence. He recommended that ben over fifty should be allowed to wmfc for a shilhng a Say less; over 55 two shillings a day Iras, : and over 60 for what tbey couH earn. He also thooght that a clause prohibiting smoking during . working hours should bo put in, as it was unfair for men to claim 1 . ipayment for smoking. He thought that a V JBBSO. sh«dd"be allowed to sell his labour and en easy in. the best market, without having bfcr wag-.fixed'.y another man. He thought tbat an extra, hour should be allowed for conntry wit, as this had been the rule Since the foundation of the province. With, ■aspect to walking time- beyond the belt, there had never been any complaint under •^__de_mit,^ndrthe proposed alteration, if famed out,-*ould seriously afiect ths cost of. ■»U .suburban jobs. Men must be deteriorating -when they f crand a mile too-far to "walk, imd the idea had not occurred to onv one in Ma time. The 20 jper cent on country work was simply 'akflßng job for the city contractors, and iterouM. be bad for the men also, as if the ■^tiJby contractors did not get the work, the fcometry contractors would, and the men Would tlhen h_ve to work for 8s or 9s per Hay. With regard to travelling expenses Ite would ask that no _nc_ expenses should fee paid before eight o'clock in the morning br after five at night, amd that this should be dearly defined in the awaid. The employers felt the preference clause yery feeenly, as it practically took the management out of the builders' hands, and placed it in those of the Unions. The builders did nob want the trouble of being brought before the Board to state their reasons for •aisebaiging any man. He considered this one oi 'the most selfish clauses of '"the award, __*! the employers felt that sooner than be under th© control of the Union they would sweep gutters for the City Council a* seven ,_b___ags a day. The Unions wanted their 142 men to be constantly employed and to leave the 300 non-unionists without consideration. ___c employers were bound to employ the men who suited them best, as they had to suit their customers, and upon tiiat their business depended. He thought 4_._ piopo_d_m to carta, grindstone round to every job preposterous, and asked the Board fay-strike ifroufc. He had no-objection to the ifcwo hours grinding time, except in cases triher. a man, was discharged forimpertinence ■'■*. tor, for spoiling work. It was almost an impossibility to carry out the payment of ■weekly wages as asked, .but the Workman's ■Wages Act already provided that the workiman most be paid on demand. Seeing that the workman's wage was the first lien cm ©very job, he thought the clause as asked foi**. was an insult to the contractors. On a country job it was-easy to pay on the work, but with numerous small jobs about town it -woidd be impossible. He hoped the Board ;woald<sfcrlke out this rule. As the Government was a* present dealing with the question of insurance, he thought the Board might well strike out this clause, altogether. '.'. The Chairman said that every man had surely a right to insure himself. : -.*!__ Greig said, it would be hard upon the . contractors who were already paying in_ui_nce to lose the unexpired premium cover. The Chairman said they could arrange for the policies to terminate at the end of the first six months, and get a refund in full for the remaining sis months. Speaking on the apprentico question, Mr Greig thought that country apprentices should be allowed to finish up with the city builders, amd that an. apprentice ysrho left one builder should be allowed to, serve the remainder of his time with another, so as tc give the boys every facility to become tradesmen. He did not sco the force of spending immense sums of money on technical education on .the one hand, and then passing rules to prevent boys from becoming trades men. The builders were willing to stick U. their present apprentico pay of ss, Bs, 10s. 15s and 20s per week during each respective year of thoir apprenticeship. : Mr Clark, for the Unions, said that the masters had learnt their lesson and repeatet it well. The dire prophecies of ruin mad< tefore the last award had proved groundless and he contended that, considering the -num bar of trades a, carpenter had to Team, anc Jthe amount he spent on, tools, the amoun*! asked was nofc too much. The competitioi complained of was often the resultof reckless Iras, as many men tendered hundreds o: pounds below others on country jobs. H< objected to the increased boor and full daj on Saturday for, country jobs, as the Unior did its best for its .memoers and would be doing an injustice if it permitted one class ot men to earn high wages while other; *e» walking about. The Unioifcconsiderec flutft tbe waikmg limit was a fair demand What the builders asked with regarc 't© country towUing-.meant'tJia't-a. contracta nigh- ask las men to -start for tiie coun Comtha aoM Colda axm^prtsooxaa, By Spenser Viscenfa Benjamin Gam. Sfc**: xsold -ro»*_esi_ approackiae. *_d prec^,n ; lions should be taken to ward off -.coughs -anc ■eld*. This can be dona -with Spencer ,Vin ■eat* a-'Bsiijanna. Gam,, a- ante preseoteeas-anc tare ti coaxfc^and colds. -Prico 1» 65' «m

•• try ■f-afeany. hoar of the night. .It was only fear-far the Court to assume that when a iteui:* travelled at night,, he did so. in the interests of His employer, and iiot for his own ,'pleasure._ Mr Greig had argued that unionism was good for the employer, but - 1 . . ■''F'A'h.S employed, bot the Builders' elation had, by combination, materially duced the price of material for them-, selves.. With regard .to the preference clause, Mr Clark said this had worked well in tbe past, and might be allowed to remain. Nothing unreasonable was *, asked by the Union in the matter of grindstones. The demand for weekly wages was the law ;of the land, aiid should be included in oho recommendation. Mr" Greig nad truly said .they could, get it on demand, but they would also ' get, in all probability, something- for which they did not ask. Every man had- a right to carry out his own insurance; and he need not say much about that. With regard to the apprentice question, he considered that the other side had proved the contention of the Union, that the inferior workman was produced by th*. absence of any proper system of apprenticeship. The Union contended that men working on suburban jobs, should get their money on the job, and that there would be no great difficulty in carrying this out. Mr ...Lane said, on the question bf wages, that ids 8d a day was the wage in Wellington, and that Christchurch was at least bf as much importance as Wellington, and. one great aim of the Arbitration. Act was to obtain a universal wage throughout the country. He doubted .if any one man in New Zealand possessed a complete set of tools, and he thought it enough to provide that minimum paid men should have the necessary set. The Union contended, that no contractor should be allowed to employ more than a certain percentage of inferior and underpaid men, and thought it would do away with much of the competition complained of if the employers would themselves see that none of their members employed a man below a^ proper wage. The employers wished to pay these underpaid men as they wished, and how had thsy paid them in the past? The Unions, as guardians .of the trade, had taken , upon themselves the protection of their weaker members,, and it was only as against the unscrupulous employer that it was neoessary for the Union to take action. He did not think 20 per cent extra too miichfor country jobs, as the town rent had still to be kept up. With regard to the preference clause, he said there was nothing to prevent all carpenters from joining the Union, and the fact that the Union had done so much for the trade entitled its members io preference. ' Mr England, in reply, submitted that the Unions, both of employe;, and employed, were trade unions, registered under one Act, and for that reason alone no preference should be shown to either. He gave the Union credit for trying to help the country builders, but pointed out that work was often slack in town, and the 20 per cent addition would be simply prohibitive against town builders. On the apprentice question, he said that builde.s simply could not take on boys at the price asked by the Union. Mr Greig also replied, and said that the bulk of the carpenters here were non-union men, who could work for what they liked, and the masters would be only too glad to see the Union bring these under the award. The Chairman said he was sorry to see that no definite system had been suggested for the grading of inferior men. He complimented both sides on the manner in which their case had been presented, and was glad to see that the trade was in such a healthy condition, and that things had worked so evenly under the last award. The recommendation will be filed to-day.