LABOR NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2628, 9 October 1909, Page 2

LABOR NOTES.

•' ITEMS OF INTEREST. (By Unionist.) The half-yearly report and balancesheet for the period ending 31st August was presented at Thursday’s meeting of the Wellington Trades and Labor Council. According to the report there are now 23 unions affiliated to the council. Although exceptionally heavy expenditure has been incurred by the council lately, the financial statement shows that a profit of £26 resulted on the half-year’s transactions, and that included in the assets of the organisation there was a cash balance of £136 5s sd. The executive of the newly-establish-ed Independent Labor Party in Auckland has circularised all the Trades Councils in New Zealand asking their cooperation in the movement to establish a ldbor party in our Parliament, on the lines of the Australian Labor Party. Included in the remits set down for discussion at the forthcoming conference of delegates is one to the effect that conference take steps to secure the return of Independent Labor members to Parliament. So far, all of the councils that have individually deliberated unon the remits in the agenda paper cf 'the conference have by resolution instructed their elected dele gates to support this particular remit, it is generally anticipated that the conference will approve it by a substantial majority. But it is not thought likely that any of the councils will pay serious attention to the request of the executive of the new party in Auckland. The feeling in union circles is that the matter is one for the representatives of all the councils in conference to deal with, rather than for individual councils to decide upon. The annual conference of the New Zealand Federation of Miners will take place in Wellington on October 18. Fifteen unions will be represented by delegates, and a large number of remits dealing with the mining industry are set down for consideration. The annual conference of delegates representing the trades and labor councils of the Dominion, will be held in Wellington on October 25. The whole of the eight councils will be represented. The Wellington Bookbinders’ Union held their 20th annual social recently. The Hon. J. A. 'Millar, Minister for Labor, was present, and in replying to a toast, stated that the time was not yet ripe for the extension of the system of superannuation to all employees, and outlined an annuity scheme which he hoped to bring before the public and Parliament in the near future. Not many unionists know of the existence of the Wellington Match factory Employees’ Union, in 1900, the only union of the kind in Now Zealand. It secured an award in the industry a few months after its incop•tion, and established a record by obtaining from the .Court all the terms demanded in its claims. The award is still in operation, and the Union expresses no desire to have its varied. An agreement, arrived at between the Wellington Cab and Carriage Drivers’ Union and tlieir employers, lias been received by Mr A. Stubbs, Clerk of Awards, from Mr P. Hally,'the Conciliation Commissioner. The principal features of the agreement (says the ‘‘ Weekly Herald”), which has reference to thirteen Wellington employers, are that the hours of work shall be 140 per fortnight for all persons engaged about the stables, such hours to be consecutive as far as possible; wages to be pa d drivers not less than £2 os per week. All hours worked in excess of 140 per fortnight are to be charged as overtime. Once each month each employee is to receive one day’s holiday, conditional upon the employee leaving h s “turnout”'clean. He ismlso to have a night off each week, and certain statutory holidays. Casual labor is to be paid at the rate of Is lid per hour, .and a casual driver’s overtime Is 3d for the first two hours and Is 6d for further time. Preference to unionists is one of the conditions of the agreement. There are also provisions for boarding employees, if desired, and the sale, leasing, or sub-letting of cabs or carriages to drive. Any employer intending to enter into such agreement shall give written notice to the inspector of awards, and supply bona fides of the arrangement. Several Christchurch unions are attempting the establishment of a Dominion labor newspaper, and have set up a committee to further the project. It has been decided by the committee to circularise the whole of the unions in connection with the proposal. An effort is also to bo made to arrange with the proprietors of the Auckland and Wellington labor publications for the printing of but one labor paper for the whole of New Zealand. Once it was a practice to look down upon the lowly laborer or mechanic who presumed to voice his grievances per medium of a union. The stress of modern times, however, has caused a wider fellowfeeling to enter into the movement. Making both ends meet is not confined to the lowliest, and it is but a question of time when Governments will deal with the law which permits of the accumulation of wealth by the few to the detriment of the many. The latest cry comes from Perth, West Australia, where the school teachers have been in congress. It was unanimously resolved that a living wage of £9O for female and £llO per male unclassified teachers in charge of schools should be'paid, and when it is reasoned out, is it not equitable that the State should, above all others, be an example in providing for the sustenance of its servants? . ~, , , A surprise defence was submitted by Messrs Hoyland and Co., Wellington, when cited by the Furniture Trades Union for breaches of the award. The breaches consisted of not having-a lad indentured, and for paying a workman Is per hour instead of Is 33d. The question raised by defendants was that, although joined to the award, they were outside its jurisdiction, inasmuch as ihey did little cabinet and furniture work. Their business was almost entirely limited to shop-fitting, and the employees concerned were engaged solely at shop-fitting. The union are to call rebutting evidence, but in the meantime had to pay costs (£2 Is).