WORK HELD UP

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20422, 12 February 1938, Page 8

WORK HELD UP

WOOL STORE EMPLOYEES SATURDAY PAY DISPUTE MINISTER TO INTERVENE? (By Telegraph.—press Association) AUCKLAND, Saturday. The wool, grain, hide and manure stores at Auckland were idle this morning as a result of the employees putting into enect a decision reached at a stopwork meeting yesterday not to work on Saturdays at ordinary rates of pay. The men contend that if called on to work on Saturday they should be paid time and a-half in the morning ami double time in the afternoon. The award recently issued, while conceding a forty hour, live day week for storemen, provides for lour hours on Saturday being worked # at ordinary rates. Approximately 250 men employed at seven stores are affected by tlie dispute but it is expected that they will work as usual ou Monday. The attitude of the men is likely to hinder slightly the preparations for the final Auckland wool sale on March 26, but the employers regard It as fortunate that the dispute did not come to a head earlier In the season when wool was flooding into the stores. The dispute from the employers' angle is being handled by the Wool Brokers* Association, Christchurch, and It is thought probable that the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, will be urged to intervene so as to ensure that the men will observe the award.