LABOUR AFFAIRS.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 18 May 1922, Page 8

LABOUR AFFAIRS.

PUBLIC SERVICE CUT. Per Press Asociation —Copyright. SYDNEY, May 17. The Government has decided to apply to the Court for a reduction of 7s weekly from July 1, in the wages of Public Servants. It is estimated that this will result in a saving of £300,000 annuaUy. The Government also decided to introduce next session a BiU abolishing the 44-hour week. TRADES UNIONS’ OBJECT. MUSTERING FORCES. A meeting of Union leaders decided that the most effective resistance possible should be made against any wage reductions, and that steps be taken to effect a consolidation of unions for this purpose. UNIONS’ FOURTEEN POINTS. N.S.W. COMPLAINT. SYDNEY, May 17. The Committee appointed by the Trades Unions to consider the new basic wage has drafted a report of fourteen points, repudiating the verdict on the grounds that the Board of Trade was not impartial, and that the declaration was based on unreliable data. The Committee also objects that wages were increased only once in a year, and are now decreased twice in six months. The discrepancies between Mr Heydon’s and Mr Piddington’s estimate of various items in the cost of living, particularly debts, are referred to as testimony to the unsatisfactory method of arriving at a living wage. The former specified 14s 6d and Mr Piddington 22s 6d for a house with an extra room.