TRADE TRAINING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 19 October 1942, Page 2

TRADE TRAINING

SCHEME FOR EX-SERVICEMEN LIBERAL STATE ASSISTANCE A liberal scale of pay for ex-service-ment to be selected by the Rehabilitation Board for industrial training has been recommended tentatively in a scheme 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 publication by the chairman of the Rehabilitation Board, Mr M. Moohan. Training will be given in a full-time course of intensive instruction 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 employ or in Government workshops where the number of candidates docs 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 service; 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 method to be defined and controlled by the board in conjunction with district rehabilitation committees. 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 commencement of training with similar expenses for the return journey in the event of rejection. The Government will advance the cost of necessary tools of trade, repayable by instalments mutually agreed upon. Candidates will be required to agree to remain for a minimum of . three years in the industry in which training has been given. CLASSIFICATION AND PAY Trainees will be divided roughly into three categories for training and pay: Class 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 with private employers on a subsidised basis, and during the first two years of training employers will allow time off 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-livilig bonus equivalent to 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 fifth 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 period of training is tentatively recommended, the maximum being £6 a week. SUPERVISION OF TRAINING A supervision 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 committees will be to determine the suitability of trainees for continued training, with the right of appeal in cases where trainees are deem- | ed unsuitable; to determine before commencement of training the rate of wage ; and subsidy having regard to previous experience, and to supervise and en- . sure that the trainee is receiving ade- | quate tuition from his employer and that theoretical training at the local 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 Works’ Compensation Act, afford t necessary tuition, and provide usual s facilities to the worker during train--5 ing period; allow supervising commit- , tee access for interview, etc.; and ob- ■ serve any applicable provisions of the i Apprentices Act, 1923, and amendl ments. Each candidate before aceept- ■ ance is to agree (as at present) to re- - fund the cost of training if he fails to - complete and remain in the industry ' lor three years. In practice, however, infliction or waiver of refund (or part ■ of it) will be determined according to the circumstances of each case.