STUDENT ENGINEERS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 55, 29 November 1926, Page 10

STUDENT ENGINEERS

ENDANGER SOME WORKMEN’S POSITIONS UNION PROTESTS TO MINISTER OF LABOUR Dominion Special. Christchurch, November 27. During'the vacations of the Canterbury College School of Engineering, a large number of the students obtain employment with engineering firms and local bodies throughput the Dominion tor the purpose of gaining practical experience of various branches of the profession. The students are exempt from the provisions of the Arbitration Court awards, and art generally paid a wage commensurate with the value of the services they render, taking into consideration the fact that they are engaged more in the capacity of apprentices than as journeymen workers. In the great majority of eases the employment of the student* does not interfere with that of the workers engaged in the industry, but there have been occasional instances reported to the Amalgamated Engineering Association of men being dismissed and their places filled by students. In November, 1923, the Christchurch branch of the association protested to the Minister of Labour against the dismissal of married men, and the association has again written to the Minister bringing under his notice the fact that married tradesmen were being discharged and students from the engineering colleges employed in their stead. The association, after quoting the Minister’s reply to its protest in 1923, expresses the hope that he will exercise his power where cases of abuse occur. ’