THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 22446, 17 September 1936, Page 16

THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

(By Trade Unionist.) EXPLOITING CHILD ACTORS. Legislation to prevent the exploitation of child actors at bogus charity performances vras demanded by lecturers at a conference of the Association of School Attendance Superintendents in England and Wales, at New-castle-on-Tync, recently, Mr J. R. Proctor, organiser of children's care to Newcastle Education Committee, drew attention to loopholes in the Young Persons Act. “ While, professional people connected with the stage are, in the main, observing the conditions which govern the employment of children in the theatres,” he said, ‘‘exploitation is still taking place at chanty performances. “Children are being used, for instance, at dancing performances which, while actually for private profit, are cloaked under the mantle of ‘ charity.’ “ In Newcastle, for instance, I have known of children of very tender years being used in cabarets as late as 11 p.m. “ The Act needs so to bo strengthened that it wmild be incumbent on promoters of charitable show’s to notify the local education authority of their intention and to furnish a - balance sheet so that the fact could be established that the profits were really going to the chanty named.” « * # • ACCIDENT PREVENTION. At’the annual meeting of the Chloride Electrical Storage Company in Great Britain the chairman referred to the benefits derived from the appointment of » doctor, dentist, and nurse to attend the staff. The, accident rate had fallen by 50 per cent., cases of sepsis had disappeared, as had also those of lead poisoning, formerly the prevalent hazard in the group of factories. Routine tests were continually applied both_ to workers and to processes with a view to averting poisoning. The Chairman added that the cost of the medical was practically offset by the reduction secured in the company’s insurance premiums, —lnternational Labour Office report. • • • • TRADE UNIONISM AS A WORLD FORCE. Unmistakable signs of recovery inside the international working class movement were emphasised by Sir Walter Citrine in his presidential address at the opening of the seventh Triennial Trades Union Congress in London early in July (says Industrial New’s,’ an English trade union publication) . Delegates were present from all the countries affiliated to the 1.F.T.U., and several national trade union centres reported substantial increases of membership. This expansion coincides, the president pointed out, with a significant development of the economic and political power of the organised millions of wage-earners represented in the congress. Cordial congratulations were tendered by the president to the French comrades upon the magnificent achievements attendant upon the recent advent of the Socialist Party to power in the Government formed by Leon Blum. Trade unionism. Socialism, and democracy (said Sir Walter Citrine) had been vindicated in France most impressively in , the re-establishment of working class unity, in the electoral triumphs of the Popular Front, in the disciplined demonstrations of the workers during the spontaneous strike movement, and in the economic and social measures so- promptly introduced by the new Government. Many who joined in the strike movement were not then in the unions; but a large influx of new members had carried the total of the unions represented by their French comrades until it now touched the three aiid a-half million mark. In many respects it resembled the movement which swept over the British working class in 1911, and ivhich left an indelible impression on the membership and policy of the trade union movement of Great Britain. Material benefits for the French workers had been won by the power and influence of trade unionism-

So orderly, disciplined, and irresistible were the forces represented by the unions that the resistance of- Capitalism was overborne, and the'Employers’ Federation agreed to negotiate with the representatives of the O.G.T. in the presence .of Ministers in the ne* Government, The Matignon agreement gave 7,000,000 French workers the 40-hour week; increases in pay ranging from 7 to 15 per cent.; trade union recognition and collective agreements; holidays with pay, and other advantages. These had all been reaffirmed and embodied in legislation by the Government led by Leon Blum. A serious responsibility was laid'upon their international movement to give guidance and direction to public opinion in all countries where the fear and hatred of war prevailed to-day. The will of the people was for peace. Governmental policies, on the other hand, through shortsightedness, confusion, and contradiction had enormously increased in the last few months the possibilities of war* It was their responsibility, as an international movement, to state a positive and realistic policy which would evoke the wholehearted support, not only of the organised workers, but of the great body of citizens in every country who dreaded the approach of war. “To say that our movement is opposed to war in all circumstances is, in my opinion, dangerously delusive and misleading. _ It is dangerous because it creates in the minds of the peace-seeking peoples an illusory confidence, and it is delusive because on the principles we have ourselves laid down for our guidance in international policy, circumstances may arise in which we may find ourselves called upon to make war for the enforcement of peace and the maintenance of public law. “ It seems to me. therefore, necessary for our international movement to restate once more in the plainest terms that we are pledged to maintain the collective system and remain loyal to the League of Nations. Labour stands for tho rule of law. We have taken as our miiding princinlo sunnort of the League as an ocean of international conc ; l ; ation and security. “ Tims means that the nationally or-"anisc-l movements ’■D Tv,- esontcd in this assonddv stand nl“drrpd. severally’ and collectively, to insist that national Governments will vecei'-e our sunnort cnlv in so far as those Governments undertake to settle all di-untes with foreign Towers hv peaceful moans. It means that we severally and col’ectively declare that we will not serve or snnport anv Government which becomes involved in war by its own aggressive act, or reuses to submit a dispute to arbitration, or is condemned as an aggressor by the League of Nations.”

DERMATITIS A DREADED INDUSTRIAL DISEASE. Dermatitis simply means irritation of the skin, and is caused by dust and liquids. Because of special difficulties associated with the complaint, and the proof of its industrial causation, the subject bristles with pitfalls. Opponents of trade unionism, professional and Jay, or those antagonistic to the interests of the workers, are frequently found discussing the probable theories of contraction, with special reference to dermatitis, which may be used to the detriment of a worker claiming his rightful compensation. This disease is not scheduled in New Zealand under the Workers’ Compensation Act, although union secretaries and usually the victim know that it has been contracted through his occupation. In England, the trade union movement has spent a largo amount of time in research and in obtaining statistics, with the result that our English confreres have managed to have dermatitis scheduled as a compensation injury under the Workers’ Compensation Act bub the difficulty they are having is to prove conclusively that a worker contracted the disease through his employment. The whole proof is thrown on tho worker. In some cases it is possible to prove his case, through legal precedents and declared decisions and successful cases. In other cases, the proving of an injury by accident is very difficult, and in many cases, without his trade union, the worker would.be quite helpless In the preliminary stages of his infection, the worker usually hides his disability as long as he can for fear of loss of work, or the anxiety of prospective employment deters him from reporting his condition. It has been discovered that the following workers who have been subject to contagion are: —Engineers, bakers, biscuit and confectionery workers, bootmakers, workers in stone or cement, leather workers and tanners, fur workers, and chemical workers. Long experience, based on statistical evidence, has conclusively proved the relationship between certain industrial occupations and certain diseases. Before the damage is clone, might I ask how many employers provide employees with the facilities for washing and cleaning of hands, or for minimising the occurrence of cases by means of prevention? _ / New methods are continually being tried in industry; new ingredients are frequently being added to solvents or dilutents or the ingredients of industrial substances without any information to the worker that his health, and even life, may be jeopardised; the composition of varnishes and polishes are frequently changed. The hands of workers in innumerable industrial processes have, in all sorts of conditions—good, bad. or indifferent—and in all manners of factories, to be in contact for hours with these untried and unknown substances; disablement by a skin disease would probably be an employer’s last thought. **' * • WOMEN’S UNEMPLOYMENT ROOMS. For about five years rooms have been conducted in Hannah’s Buildings, Dunedin, for the purpose of assisting unemployed girls. A representative committee of ladies, under the chairmanship of Mrs W. Ross, attends to the management and conduct of the rooms, the cost of which is defrayed out of the Unemployment Fund. The unemployed girls who attend the rooms are divided into two sections—viz., cookery and sewing, each department having a separate instructress, The girls during their periods of unemployment are employed in these rooms at a set weekly rate until they can bo re-employed, which the Ladies’ Committee, through its registrar helps them to obtain. The committee just recently received notice from the proprietors of its present premises that they were wanted for other purposes, with the result that the rooms will have -to close for a term, until other premises, which have been secured in Filleul street, have been fitted up.