INQUIRY OPENED
Scope Of Apprenticeship Act WORKERS’ EVIDENCE
Submissions concerning' apprenticeship conditions in the furniture and plastering trades were heard id Wellington yesterday, when the Commission of Inquiry set up to examine existing legislation bearing on apprenticeship, to investigate existing educational facilities of both pre-vocational and vocational character, and to report on changes considered necessary to meet the. present and future needs of industry, began its sittings. The commission is expected to spend some time in Wellington taking evidence and will follow this with sittings at other centres. Mr. Justice Tyndall presided. There were also present Dr. C. E. Beeby, Messrs. C. R. Edmond, A. Gilbert, H. E. Moston, W. j. Mountjoy,' F. C. Renyard; R. G. Ridling,- R. Stanley and F. D. Cornwell. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs. F. G. Fowler and E. B. Taylor. Oh behalf of the New Zealand Federated Furniture and Related Trades Industrial Association of Workers, Mr. James Ferguson made submissions urging the apprentice receiving sufficient training so as to have every possible opportunity to earn his living in the industry after apprenticeship. Many weaknesses were apparent in apprenticeship orders, it was claimed. In most of these orders there was a clause restricting the training of an apprentice to “the trade as carried on by the employer.” In the past when in most trades the work was more general and all operations were being carried out in the one factory it was quite a good thing to apprentice the boy to the individual, but as the operations in the trade became more specialized it was against the boy’s interests to be apprenticed to the individual employer or firm, because it gave him only instruction in one or two lines and thus restricted his scope as a tradesman, usually resulting in his leaving the industry because of the limited employment offered. To remedy this, while allowing each firm or employer to employ junior labour, it was suggested the boy should be apprenticed to the industry and not the individual firms or employers.
Further suggestions put forward were that the Apprentices .Act should contain provisions making it possible to obtain Dominion apprenticeship orders in any industry, the provision of some form of prewocational training, and additional training for apprentices at technical or trade schools. It was also held that the five-year term of apprenticeship, notwithstanding the highly mechanized state of the trade, was not too long. It might be possible with additional training facilities being given such as vocational daylight training, to shorten the term, but till such was given a fair trial, five years was necessary. It was considered that the question of the proportion should be left to the apprenticeship committees, but a full investigation into the needs of each industry in this respect was necessary. This would enable the supply of apprentices into the industry to be regularized. Finally it was suggested the cantract of apprenticeship should be a contract of service on the boy’s part, and a contract to instruct on the part of the industry or employer. To Mr. Moston, witness said it was his experience as a cabinet-maker and upholsterer that, in spite of the' increased mechanization of the industry, five years was the minimum period necessary for training. Complaints were still being received that the boys were not competent. To Dr. Beeby, witness considered it would be possible to draw up a syllabus approved) by the industry which would bring ihe training in industry and at the technical school into close relationship. Witness agreed with the chairman that the trade apparently had a greater 'proportion of apprentices to journeymen than any other industry. To Mr. Mountjoy, witness admitted' there might be some difficulty in smaller towns in apprenticing boys to industry rather than to individuals or firms, but he felt there were sufficient brains in the! industry to overcome that. Anomalies and evils in the Apprenticeship Act as far as they affected the plastering trade were outlined by Mr. N. N. Hildreth. It was essential that the intending apprentice to the plastering trade should continue to be trained comprehensively and not under any system of specialization. There must also be greater economic security in the trade or the drift to othqr avenues of employment of skilled workers would continue. It was urged that the apprenticeship contract should ensure adequate training for the apprentice. The .remedies to the difficulties lay in pre-vocational training, vocational training and apprenticeship to industry to ensure a comprehensive training. Where an employer was unable to train an apprentice in all the operations of the trade, then a properly constituted body should have authority to transfer the apprentice from one employer to another.
Witness answered a number of questions.
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Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 226, 21 June 1944, Page 4
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784INQUIRY OPENED Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 226, 21 June 1944, Page 4
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