World of Work.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 14, 9 June 1911, Page 7

World of Work.

x rotcssor. W. T. Mills has a good phrase to describe tho workers. He refers to them as "the useful people."

Mr. Arthur Sherwell, M.P., has issued a leaflet entitled "Trades Unions and Publichouses," from Avhich we learn that "out of 2-805 local branches of eight important trades unions in the United Kingdom having a membership of 353,000, no fewer than 1501 branches or 5_ per cent, of the whole, hold their meeting > in pubiichouses." This practise is almost confined to England, it being very rare for a trade union to meet on licensed premises in either Scotland or Ireland.

If the workers of God's Own don't buckle to, they will be left far behind some of the slowest countries of the Old World. The working-class movement in Servia is making excellent headAvay. Some trades unions have doubled and some have trebled their membership. In the autumn of last year a labor paper was started at Belgrade, it has been appearing three times, a Aveek, and is soon to become a daily.

Mr. Keir Hardie has been carrying on a> A r igorous propaganda on platform and in the press oh behalf of the Welsh strikers. In reply to a letter from the Colliery Owners' Association secretary in the "Daily Chronicle," he writes: ' 'The spirit in which the masters are conducting their side of the dispute is brought out by your correspondent's attempt to make it appear liiat there is little, if any, suffering in the affected area. The absurdity of his Avill be apparent in a moment when ifc is remembered that the dispute lasted all through the winter months, and. that there are 11,000 dependents of men avlio are not even in receipt of the meagre strike pay allowance .which is from the union funds." The purport of the letter referred to, apparently was to make the public believe the strikers' Avives and children avere in no great need, and thus disiuade the public from subscribing to the strike funds.

Since the opening of 1911 there have oeen numerous illustrations that the workers are becoming more and more class conscious and are now readier than before to consider an injury to one as an injury to all. The recent .-ihort strike at Singer's Works, Ivilbowie, Scotland, in which 11,000 workers were involved, was all over a matter of 2s per week to eight girls. "Whoso is faithful in little things, the same shall be faithful in much."

Then some 90 girls employed in Messrs Iris's mineral water works, Camden Town, struck work owing to the dismissal of Mrs Lowin, the President of the local .branch of the National Federation of Women Workers. The girls refused to go in until Mrs. Lowin was reinstated. _ *■=_*_

And just on the heels of the latter comes the information that 900 weavers in the northern spinning mills, Belfast, have come out in sympathy with 150 reelers who objected to wash the "stand" at their machines. The reelers are pieceworkers, and object to the new order, declaring that the job will take up an hour of their time, which means a considerable monetary loss to them. Thus does the spirit of solidarity grow from more to more. # * - * *

The President of the Thames Miners' Union was in Karangahake when the question of affiliating with tho New

Zealand Federation of Labor was discussed between him and the local branch committee. Although not. personally in favour of the idea, the president stated that in the event of Mr. Semple, the Federation organiser, visiting Thames, every facility will be afforded him to place his views before the members of the Union. Mr. Semple is now in Waihi, and will probably" take the opportunity of visiting the Thames.

In 1905 the E.I. dv Font Nemours Powder Company established a profitsharing plan by which every year certificates of common stock are given to employees as a bonus, and the workmen are permitted also to purchase shares of stock on the easy payment plan. There are now 1695 stockholders in tho company, of which 764, or 45 per cent., aro employees. The "profitsharing" has worked out splendidly forj the company, because under this ar \ rangement the dividend rate on the* common stock has inor-e-ased from onehalf per cent, in 1905 to 12 per cent., the present rate.

Tho British Railway Clerks' Association has issued a pamphlet, entitled "The Life of the Railway Clerk." It gives brief description of the main conditions of employment in the ofhces of British railway companies, and a plea for a higher scale of -wages for all grades of railway clerical workers. A table is given showing the years of service, and the average salaries paid. Tho average wages paid to 1126 clerks with from five to 45 years' service is £1 6s 9_d. There are over 1-50 branches and upward of 12,000 members in the Clerks' Union, and although one of the youngest trade organisations it has secured for its members payment for Sunday duty and a bill has been introduced into the Commons to secure them a "free and uninterrupted rest-day of 24 hours in each week."

British women workers, as a class, are still in many cases at the stage ot serfdom. How true this is may be seen from .a perusal of the inquiry conducted by the Women's Trade Union League into the position of waitresses. According to the secretary, Miss Mary McArthur, the lot of the London waitress is ono long round of monotonous toil. Some -w_-;*l_ from 8 a.m. to midnight. • The general rule is 12 hours a day on duty. Some girls are paid wages with bonus or tips, some girls have to exist solely on the gratuities received from customers. The church may rave about the social vice, but while women are compelled to live on starvation wages, or to supplement them by undesirable methods, it is idle to expect a high standard of morality.