REGULATIONS ALTERED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 93, 1 July 1946, Page 6

REGULATIONS ALTERED

REVIVED APPRENTICESHIPS EFFECT ON REHABILITATION SUBSIDIES Alterations to the conditions governing apprenticeships revived by men discharged from the armed forces are announced jointly by the Minister of Rehabilitation, The Hon. C. F. Skinner and the Acting Minister of Labour, the Hon. J. O’Brien. The Apprenticeship Emergency Regulations, 1944, provided for the revival of apprenticeships that were suspended as a result of entry into the armed services. Such revived apprenticeships come within the general trade training scheme of the Rehabilitation Board and in the case pf eligible men they carry wage subsidies from the Board. Recent wage adjustments ordered by the Arbitration Court have considerably altered the conditions under which the original regulations were drafted. When the regulations were made in 1944 their provisions covered contracts which in some trades involved a term of six years, and for the employer to pay to some classes of exservice apprentices the wage stipulated in the last six-monthly term of the man’s pre-service contract plus one-third of the difference between that rate and a journeyman’s wage. The new regulations change both these provisions.

The increases in apprentices wages ordered by the Arbitration Court greatly increased the employers’ payments; and as a result the Rehabilitation subsidising grants were automatically decreased. Representations were made-to the Labour Department by the Employers’ Federation to have this position modified; and as a result with the concurrence of both employers and union organisations the regulations have been amended. At the same time the Rehabilitation Board has amended its subsidy scale to protect the gross income of men who are affected and who are eligible for its aid.