WAGES FOR APPRENTICES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 22, 19 October 1937, Page 7

WAGES FOR APPRENTICES

"Silly Demands" By Unions CHAMBER 0F COMMERCE VIEW That tlio majority of businesses were no longer taking on apprentices because it was not worth whiie their doing so ' in view of ever-increasing demands being made as regards wages and other condition3 of the industrial awards was pointed out by Mr Hugh W. C. Baird, president of the Hastings Chamber oi Commerce, last evening. The meeting was considering various remits to come before the annual cou« ference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce next month regarding wage rates, unemployment and industrial awards and Mr Baird pointed out that, now apprentices were receiving 15/- a week, new demands were being made by union secretaries claiming for £1 a week. He contended that no beginner was worth £1 a week, yet tha claiins continued to pile up for increased wages and longer holidays. "Some of these silly demands made by union secretaries are derimental fo business," he said, "for it means that if a man does sign on an apprentice he knows that he has to provide work for that apprentice for at least two or three years but he does not know what hours, conditions, or wages will eventually have to be paid." "It is also very aunoying to tbo business community," he added. "for we lcnow that this unccrtainty is creating unemployment."