NO ATTEMPT MADE TO SETTLE DISPUTE OVER CARPENTRES’ GO-SLOW

Wanganui Chronicle, 19 February 1949, Page 6

NO ATTEMPT MADE TO SETTLE DISPUTE OVER CARPENTRES’ GO-SLOW

AUCKLAND, Last Night (PA).— No attempt from any quarter was made to settle the dispute between the Auckland Master Builders* Association and the Auckland Branch of the Carpenters and Joiners’ Union today. Confirmation that the employment of at least 1500 men had been terminated in the Auckland district, as far south as Tuakau, had been received up to 5 o’clock this evening by the secretary of the association (Mr. M. F. Bunker) Unemployed carpenters are reporting to the union’s office for registration with a view to receiving sustenance from the lockout fund if the dispute becomes protracted. Some of the men told a reporter that they were considering making application to the Social Security Department for unemployment benefit. UNION TO CONFER The union’s future course of action will be decided at a conference of job delegates in the Trades Hall on Monday and a mass meeting of members on Tuesday. In spite of the union’s request, some 3f the men had not removed their tools of trade from the jobs after their dismissal, said Mr. Bunker No negotiations had taken place between his association and the union since the go-slow policy had begun. Carpenters employed by the City Council Waterworks Department had not been dismissed, said the assistantwaterworks engineer (Mr. C. W. Firth). This was because the council had already made application to the wages commissioner to increase their wages to 4s an hour, the rate which the union is seeking in order to bring them back into step with other tradesmen who had recently been granted increases. Maintenance carpenters at freezing works are also being retained.

UNION CONSOLIDATED “The action of big builders and merchants in forcing a lockout of carpenters is having the effect of consolidating the ranks of our members and gaining the support of other trade unionists,” said the secretary □f the union (Mr. D. McEwen, in a statement Donations and promises of financial support had already been received. The unanimous decision of ’ the National Council of the Federa- i tion of Labour to give full financial and moral support to the locked out carpenters, and to call for subscrip-1 tions, indicated that the importance of | resisting the employers’ action was ( appreciated by the rest of the trade i union movement. The enrollment of all members now idle had begun, and would be continued on Monday with a view to a distribution of lockout pay for as long as the dispute lasted. WORK IN HAND The absence of carpenters was obvious today in every district visited where houses are under construction. Some houses in various stages of completion were deserted At others there was still sign of life as labourers and other workers not affected by the builders’ mass dismissal move carried on \Vh work in hand. The little carpentry still being done, however, was confined to employers who normally work on jobs, apprentices under the supervision of employers and foremen, and a group of rehabilitatior. trainers af Tamaki.. On the large-scale State housing schemes at Tamaki and Mount Roskill comparatively few men were at work, but those who remained were far from idle. Bricklayers, painters, plasterers, plumbers, drainlayers and others carried on as usual, and there is plenty of work ahead for more of them. Tilers may be among the first of the workers in allied trades to suffer from the absence of carpenters. Relatively few houses are ready for their roofs and the rest cannot be tiled until the carpenters set up the framework. Builders’ labourers seem to have ample work in hand on State housing jobs. As builders have contracts for several units they can easily divert men to work ahead, such as the building of foundations. Painters and plumbers apparently could carry on almost indefinitely.