J.I.C. Jettisoned
Page 46
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INFLEXIBILITY of the employees'
section of the Central Wages Board seems to have brought about the necessity of the first princiral resolution on the agenda._ Mr. C. H. Batty opened a discussion on the following resolution: "That the representatives of the National Association of Furniture Warehousemen and Removers withdraw from the Joint Industrial Council for the removal industry, as it has been found impracticable to give independent consideration to the conditions of employment in the industry, because wage rates and conditions of employment are agreed by other negotiating authorities on which the industry has no effective representation."
Formed in 1924 In opening the discussion, Mr. Batty said that the J.I.C. for the furnitureremoval industry was formed in 1924 and operated with reasonable satisfaction until the introduction of the Road Haulage Wages Act, although it was always realized that the Council cOuld not enforce its decisions.
The furniture-removal industry had always held—and its J.I.C. had repeatedly pointed out to the Central Wages Board --that there was no similarity between the work done by porters, packers, and so on, and that of mates in the road haulage industry.
Nevertheless, the Central Wages Board insisted that, for the purposes of the Act, these helpers were road haulage workers, to whom the scales of pay laid
down in the various publications issued under the Road Haulage Wages Act should apply.
As time went on, it became increasingly evident that any resolution or proposal from the furniture-removal industry's J.I.C. was having no effect, and the conclusion was reached that the Association should withdraw from the