PETONE TROUBLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11672, 12 April 1916, Page 5

PETONE TROUBLE.

; —r- r yjn THE POSITION TO-DAY. • * J [From Our Correspondent, J tTf . WELLINGTON, April The conference between the, repr®" sentatives of the Wellington Woollen Company and tile "Woollen . Worsts'; Tin ion, whicli took place- on Thursflpy imder the presidency of the Primp Mut*ister, seemed to have brought & ment of tho dispute between the pafl»~ ties appreciably nearer, but. it i5't00.,...; early yet "to say that the danger of »a\. ■ serious conflict has entirely .passed. ; J Tho company has offered an advance of 10 per cent on wa«;es to male worker# »• receiving up to 40s «• week arid : $Q ■, female workers receiving up to 37s €d . a week, and an advance of 5 and a'back bonus of o per cent to workers receiving above those amounta._^ It is claimed by the employers that . these payments would approach very nearly to the all-round advance '/f' 10 per cent demanded by tho workers, end it ,was expected that compromise would have been accepted out or h&hai' but on Friday the executive of the local union asked for a further confer* onco, which the directors of the oom-i' pany refused, with the intimation tha&< they had decided to adhere to the term*; . already offered. ' j. It is now announced that this reply. \ will be placed before a meeting pi the' .> workers on Wednesday,' and in thel meantime the fighting division of tlieirj union has not suspended its It is reported, on no very authority," that a majority of the ployees aro disposed to_ stand out. fori the full amount of their demand, hut' it seems moro likely that the Gec«nd : conference was sought rather to adjust on some slidiug scale the amount of the" increase. Without this there would be ; obvious anomalies in the proposed ar- * rangement. However, public opinion, ■ though for the most part strongly supporting the workers' demand, would not give its sympathy to persistence in a . trifling claim calculated to lead to a definite breach between the parties.