ARBIRATION COURT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16920, 20 December 1922, Page 4

ARBIRATION COURT.

CHRIST CHURCH SITTINGS. The Christchurch sittings of the Arbitration Court were concluded yesterday, his Honor Mr Justice Frazer presiding. Several awards and decisions were bled. ENGINEERS. Dealing with the engineers' dispute, the Court stated ” The matter of hours has 1/een agreed upon in other districts, and the Court could not se.i its way to make any differentiation between districts in this respect. Rate.? of overtime have been lixed in accord arrv with the Court's recent pronounce raent. The clause relating to branches j of trade has been amended bv deleting | planers, shapers, Blotters and borers j whose proper place is in a metal work j ers’ assistants’ award. The employers i asked for a general reduction of wages. j oil the ground that the trade was slack, 1 and that business could not be done at I present prices There was no sugges ion that any difficulty was experienced in connection with repair work, and the employers’ case rested almost entirely on manufacturing work, most of which machinery and implements. The major- i ity of members of the Court are of opinion that it is inadvisable to reduce the rates of remuneration of engineers below the standard rates for skilled workers, more particularly when the post-war depression is passing away. It is thought that the lower rate for workers employed on stock catalogue work, the retention of which was opposed by the pinion, affords the true solution of the question of wages, and this should enable machinery and implements to be manufactured at prices which will be within the reach of farmers and others, and enable the workers to keep in steady employment at a reasonable'wage. The Court has mack* some alterations in the apprentices’ clause, in the- direction of encouraging the technical education of apprentices, and removing the hard apd-fast restriction of their work to one or two branches of the trade. It is not intended that the latter amendment *s to be regarded as permitting employers to keep apprentices at labour, ing work, and the Court will reinstate the old provision i£ the clause is abused. In other respects, the award follows the recommendations of the Conciliation Council, which the parties agreed to accept.” BOILERMAKERS. The clauses in dispute in this award were settled on the lines- of the engineers’ dispute for the district. M ETA T. WORK ERS’ A SSI ST ANTS. The Court settled the rates of wages in accordanpe with the standard rates payable, and lias included planers, shapers, slotters’and borers at the rates fixed by the former general engineers’ award for such workers. DRIVERS. This award was based cn awards recently made in other districts. The exemption formerly granted to- the ‘ Timaru Herald *’ Company was. op - posed bv the union, and the Court accordingly deferred consideration of the matter until it sat at Timaru. The former exemption will be continued in tiie meantime, subject to the Court’s power of revision. The Count also held over consideration of a number of applications to add South Canterbury employers until the next sitting in Timaru. CYCLE WORKERS. The Court fixed the wages' question on the lines of the last Otago award, which was stated to contain a very complete classification. TINSMITHS AND METAL WORKERS. The Court settled the clauses in dispute on the lines of other recent awards. The form of exemption granted to the Christchurch Gas Company in the last award has been retained, as the conditions prevailing are different from these in other centres. MOTOR MECHANICS. The principal matter in this dispute was whether apprentices should be sub. stituted for assistants. The Court stated that there were difficulties in the way of making such a change, and no evidence had been submitted which would justify the Courtmaking it The Court had been impressed with the evidence tendered by the union as to the' impossibility of tesMiing assistants the trade in shops which wdVe not properly equipped and the Court had, therefore, added .a sub clause to ensure that the assistants should have a better opportunity of obtaining a .sound training. Any dispute in con nection with the sufficiency of the equipment of a shop could be dealt with under Clause 16 of the new award, which makes provision for file settlement of matters not enumerated in the' actual award. PICTURE THEATRES. The Court directed that a general order of November 22. 1922, should not operate ih respect of “performance”, rates provided in the award dealing with picture theatres’ and front-of-house employees. THE TRAMWAYS. | The Court, in interpreting pari of ! Clause 8 of the tramway industrial agreement, dealing with time allowed to a motorman for signing on and signing off When he takes out the same car, stated that it could interpret the sentence only in accordance with its plain meaning, which was that when the same car was left and taken out again, live lfcinutes was to he allowed for the two operations, and not for each separately. The time allowance could not be divided. Mf a motorman took out a different car he would be en titled to rive minutes for signing off when leaving the first car and also to an allowance for signing on when taking out the second car.