THE FLIGHT OF WAGES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 48, 20 November 1920, Page 9

THE FLIGHT OF WAGES

BUILDING WOTKEIts IN SYDNEY: It. is estimated by. the secretary of tlio Master Builders' .Association, pays a Sydney paper, that tjis average increase in wages 'betivceii 19J+ mid- 1920. taking ftC • principal. trades, including,. hodcTirrying, is 53.13 per cent., and that, taking the whole of the- trades', 'together with the labourers, the average increase mi5'53.43 per cent. The figures were revealed in tho course of .Tudge Becby's inquiry' iiito 1 lie'lt-hour week in the building'trade. With wanes a burning question everywhere, tho figures are worth quoting in detail. They show that brieklavers, for instance, got Is. 7Jd. in 1911, and 2s. sd. in 1920. Carpenters rose from Is. Gd; to 2s. 3Jd.; masons, from Is. Bd. to 2s. GJd.; painters, from Is. id. to 2s. 2d.; plasterers, from Is. 7J(I. to 3s. 4\d.; plumbers, from Is. Gd. to 2s". SJd.j slaters, lUcrs, shinglers, from Is. 7M. : to 2s. 5Jd.; quarrymen, from Is. Bd. to 2s. 5d.; builders' labourers, from Is. I\(\. to 2s. flJd.j hod-carriers, 'from Is. 4ld. to 2s. 0}(1.; tile-layers, from Is. fid. to 2s. 2d.; sign-writers, from Is. Gd. to 2s. id ; and so on.' " - . .Tudgo Becbv's statement was more illuminating still. -..It showed that in 19H there were 9928 buildings erected.at a cost of ,£6,929,f100, while for the year ended in .Tune last tliere were 7517 buildings erected-at a cost of d£G,56C,000._ which means considerably fewer buildings for practically the same money. It is estimated that the cost to the Railway Department alone of curtniling the working hours from 48 to 11 would 1m J!21,5Cfl per annum.