LEARNING TRADES

Evening Star, Issue 19805, 2 March 1928, Page 6

LEARNING TRADES

ENGAGEMENT OF APPRENTICES

AMENDMENTS TO ACT NEEDED

Among the questions of paramount importance to be discussed by the National Industrial Conference, which will be attended in Wellington on March 27 by representatives of Parliament, employers, and tho workers, will be that of apprentices. Tho conference is welcomed by Labor loaders, ft was suggested by Mr H. E. Holland in the House when the Labor Bills Committee was sitting on the Arbitration Act Amendment Bill last session. Labor will attend tho conference with the aim of trying to arrive at some working agreement with the employers. “The Apprentices Act requires amendment in several particulars, and this will be one of the biggest questions before, the conference,’’ stated a prominent Dunedin Labor official today. “Though the Act was an attempt to remove' a number of anomalies previously existing, its working has resulted in many matters requiring emendation being shown. The Apprentices Act was evolved from a big conference held in Wellington on August 15, 1023, and it is to be hoped that the forthcoming conference will produce something better. Before the Act was brought into force apprentices were covered merely by the various industrial awards.” Parents and guardians of boys whom they wished to apprentice-_ to trades knew nothing of the provisions of the Act, stated the Labor man. Although a penalty of £lO was fixed for failing to register an apprenticeship contract, parents and guardians were always at a disadvantage. “They go to an employer, who agrees to take tho hoy,” ho explained. “Tho parents believe that the hoy is apprenticed until he is one day dismissed. When tho parents commence inquiries they find no contract of nppontic\ship recorded. It is tho business of a man who takes on an apprentice that ho should know the requirements of the State regarding the training and control of apprentices. Of course, tho Labor Department is up against a difficulty when prosecution is considered. If it lakes action against tho employer it has also to take action against tiro parents or guardians, who arc really ignorant of the legal requirements. So nothing can be done, and tho boy loses his chance; of learning a trade. The onus of securing the contract in legal form should be placed on tlie employers alone, as they should be fully conversant with the requirements of the' Act.”

There should also (he said) be a law preventing an employer engaging an apprentice. unless he had reasonable hopes of being able to maintain the required number of journeymen during the time served by tho apprentice in learning tho trade or possessed opportunity of being able to transfer the apprentice to another employer in the event of his being unable to retain Hie boy’s services.