TRADE TRAINING

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 248, 21 October 1942, Page 3

TRADE TRAINING

FOR EX-SERVICEMEN. SELECTION SCHEME. A liberal scale of pay for exservieemen to be selected by the Rehabilitation Board for industrial training has been recommended tentatively in a scherne prepared by the board's trade training committee. The proposed rates range up to £6 a week in the last half of the third year of training. A summary of the committee's recommendations has been released for puolicaton by the ehairman of the Rehabilitation Board, Mr M. Moohan. Training will be given in a fulltirne course of intensive instruetion in a Government training centre or trade school, or at technical colleges — by arrangements with the Education Department and school authorities- — with or without a subsequent period as an improver; also in private ernploy or in Government workshops v/here the number of candidates does not warrant the formation of a special class or where other reasons make such a step desirable. Eligibility for training shall be restricted to discharged servicemen who have not previously engaged as a tradesman or completed training in any skilled trade; or whose ability to continue in his pre-service skilled trade has contracted because of disability as at the date of discharge from armed serviee; and such other cases as in the opinion of the Rehabilitation Board are considered to warrant special training assistance. Selection is to be under a inethod to be defined and controlled by the board in conjunction with district rehabilitation cornmittees. SELECTION FACTORS. Factors which the committee suggests should be considered in connection with selection are health and physique, educational background, and apparent bona fide interest in practical and theoretical training and stability. It is proposed that reasonable and actual expenses shall be paid by the Government to candidates reporting for selection or comniencement of training with similar expenses for the return joumey in the event of rejection. The Government will advance the cost of necessary tools of trade, re1 yable by instalments mutually agreed upon. Candidates wiU be lequired to agree to remain for a minin.um. of three years in the industry in which training has been given. CLASSIFICATIpN AND PAY. Trainees will be clivided roughly into three categories for training and pay: C'lass A trainees will be given a maximum of twelve months' training in a Government training centre, such as the carpentry training centres already established or at a technical college followed by a period (maximum two years) of improvership. Class B trainees will be given the whole of their training under an adult apprenticeship v/ith private employers on a subsidised basis, and during the first two years of training employers will allow time ofT to attend trade classes to the extent of not less than two half or one whole working day weekly. Scales of pay and subsidy are based on: (1) A tradesman's rate of £5 10s; (2) a cost-of-living bonus equivalent co 10s a week; (3) subsidies (where no previous training has been given in a training centre or technical school) ranging from 50 per cent. of the total wages during the first period to 10 per cent. in the ftfth period, plus an additional subsidy of 10s a week during the .period in which trainees attend technical college classes during working hours. A detailed schedule of rates of pay and subsidies for the different neriod of

training is tentatively recommended, the maximum toeing £6 a week. SUPERVISION OF TRAINING. A supervising' committee will be set up in each training centre, consisting' of one representative of the workers' union in the trade concerned, one representing the employers, and one representative of a Government department, preferably the Labour Department. The functions of the supervising cornmittees will be to determine the suitability of trainees for continued training, with the right of appeal in cases where trainees are deemed unsuitable; to determine beTore commencement of training the rate of wage and subsidy having regard to previous experience, and to supervise and ensure that the trainee is receiving adequate tuition from his employer and that theoretical training at the loeal technical college is in line with current trade practice. It is recommended that the employer shall pay weekly wages indicated and account for tax in the usual manner, accept accident liability in terms of Workers Compensation Act, aflord necessary tuition, and provide usual facilities to the worker during training period; allow supervising committee access for interview, etc.; and observe any applicable provisions of the Apprentices Act, 1923, and amendments. Each candidate before acceptance is to agree (as at present) to refund the cost of training if he fails to complete and remain in the industry for three years. In practice, however, infiiction or waiver of refund (or part of it) will be determined according to the circumstances of each case.