TEAROOM WORKERS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20329, 12 June 1934, Page 8

TEAROOM WORKERS.

Application for Canterbury Agreement.

With the object of securing a uniform agreement for workers in tearooms and restaurants throughout the Dominion, the Canterbury Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ Industrial Union of Workers submitted to a Conciliation Council this morning claims amended to correspond with the agreement recently reached in the Wellington district. These, it was stated, met the objections made by the employers when the dispute was heard twelve months ago. The respondents in the present dispute were W. R. Cooke and Son, Ltd., and approximately two hundred proprietors of tea-rooms and restaurants in the Canterbury industrial district. The Conciliation Commissioner (Mr S. Ritchie) presided, and the assessors were: Employers, Mrs E. Madden, Miss M. A. Trent, and Messrs F. B. Creswell and D. I. Macdonald: employees, Messrs F. G. Young, R. A. Brooks, G. T. Thurston and E. G. East. Mr Young askerl the employers to give favourable consideration to the claims of the employees. The union desired a uniform agreement throughout isew Zealand, and with this object in view had amended its claims to correspond with the agreement recently reached in the Wellington district. Canterbury and the West Coast were the only districts where awards were not in operation. The Wellington agreement practically met the objections raised by (he employers twelve months ago, when the Dominion award was cancelled. The difficulties confronting employers in Canterbury were met by the provisions of the Wellington agreement. Mr Young added that the employers had treated the employees reasonably well during the period in which there had been no award.

Mr Macdonald said that the assessors for the employers were not empowered at present to agree to one or two points in the union’s claims, and an adjournment would be necessary to refer these matters back to the employers. Careful consideration would be given to the union's claims.

After the employers’ assessors had conferred privately, Mr Macdonald said that they could not agree to any wage rates or holiday provisions at present, and an adjournment would be necessary. The council then adjourned until July