CONCERN EXPRESSED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 41, 19 February 1943, Page 6

CONCERN EXPRESSED

NEW BUILDING ORDER RISING COSTS EFFECT ON PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION Auckland, Feb. 15. Master builders were opposed to interference with Arbitration Court awards, said Mr. H. M. Clark, secretary of the Auckland Master Builders’ Association, discussing the proposed new building order to cover all classes of construction. Was it right, he asked, that conditions which had been fought for and preserved by workers’ unions and employers alike should be up set by bringing down a special order, which at the moment favoured the workers? Was there any guarantee, should trade become slack, that defence construction orders or similar orders would not be brought down to reduce the present conditions? This aspect r.f dispensing with awards should receive the closest scrutiny.

Builders were seriously concerned with rising costs, continued Mr. Clark. It was not in keeping with the Government’s stabilisation policy that the cost of dwellings, either State houses or privately erected homes, should be increased. No. was it desirable to increase the price of factory buildings, the outlay on which was reflected in the cost of production of goods made on the premises. The overhead cost of all commercial buildings was met by the inclusion of a percentage of profit to cover capital expenditure.

If defence construction orders were to be made applicable to private contracting, it was certain that costs would increase to the general public. It was estimated by a builder who was extensively engaged in this field that a dwelling valued at £l4OO on present stabilised wages and conditions would cost aproximately £6O more *f tne conditions proposed by the unions were accepted. When the defence construction order fixed the hourly rate of wages for carpenters at 3s 3d, that rate was based supposedly on a 54-hour week. The hours were later reduced to 48, but the 3s 3d was retained. Viewpoint of Unions. If the War Cabinet approved the new order, said Mr. F. Craig, president of thp Auckland District Council of the Federation of Labour, and a'so secretary of tie Timber Workers’ Union, hours ar* wages would be based on 40 hou s at ordinary time, plus time and a half for the extra (ight hours. For hours worked in excess of 48, payment would be al. 3s 3d, instead of the ordinary rime rate of 2s 9:1(1 an hour. There wou.d also be a guaranteed minimum wage of £5 10s a week. '‘Tie i'stil.ut.ion o r regulations, even with a flat rate, reduced the worker’s wages considerably. Mi. Craig stated. If the worker retained the right to bargain, he would oe receiving at the present time much more than any order could give him. On numerous occasions the Hours Emergency Committee had been approached by employers in the timber industry seeking 'an extension of hours at ordinary rates. However, 1 when the Timber Industrial Modifica- •