First Wellington Award

Te Ao Hou, August 1957, Page 13

First Wellington Award It was not until 1908 that the first Wellington Shearers' Award was negotiated. On the side of the shearers, the advocates were C. Graindler, R. Eddy, Jack Townsend, Arthur Cook and Bob Tutaki. The list of persons, firms and companies with which these representatives entered into agreement occupies twenty-eight pages of print. A breach of award by any party was made punishable with up to a £100 fine. This provision is still in force in respect of unions, associations and employers; the maximum fine for workers is now £10. In essentials, this first agreement already contained most of the conditions of today. The shearing rate was then £1 per hundred sheep, double for rams, and stud sheep by mutual agreement. It was laid down that the dining room should be lighted until 9 p.m., that the owner was to supply implements, free grazing for one horse, and a sufficiency of good food, including jam and 1 ¼ lbs. weekly (today it is 1 ½) of the contested butter. This last point was a bit of a victory, for in the 1902 Canterbury award there was no mention of butter and in the 1906 Canterbury award only 1 lb. was specified. One difference was that in those days there was no limitation to the number of learners to be admitted (this gradually came in until now only one learner is allowed to five shearers). Also, there was only one shearers' representative in a shed

instead of the present number of three. In all this Mr Tutaki took an active part. He was already then the Union's representative among the shearers of Hawkes Bay. He was in the deputation that saw the Farmers Federation and later the Minister of Labour. Until 1920, he continued to combine this work with his ordinary shearing. He helped to collect dues, and to go through the almost annual business of negotiating shearing rates by conciliation or arbitration. The passing of the Shearers Accommodation Act 1919 was a further victory for shearers, increasing the control on the standard of shearers' quarters. Inspectors in those years were active in enforcing the regulation, often helped by union reports. In 1920, the N.Z.W.U. (which in 1910 had taken over from the A.P.U.) met with a rival in the form of the Mataura Maori Shearers' Association which was, according to Mr Tutaki's story, sponsored by the sheepowners, and attempted to split the Maori shearers of Hawkes Bay from the general union. This Association employed four organisers who toured the district in cars and promised free doctors and medicine to their adherents. ‘In the second year’, says Bob Tutaki, ‘I pushed them off the road. I followed them around wherever they went and talked to the workers in the sheds. I reminded the workers of the bad old days and the achievements of the unions.’ Evidently something went wrong with the organisation of the medical benefits and some doctors and chemists did not honour the Association's membership cards. Anyhow, it seems to have gone out of existence after 1921. To Mr Tutaki this meant a vital change in his career. To cope with the Association, he had been appointed full-time union organiser, and after 1921