Trades and the Workers

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 132, 25 August 1927, Page 13

Trades and the Workers

=BY

BOXWOOD

UNION MEETINGS DUE

Coopers ... ..is.-* To-night Bricklayers . .. .. ».... . * . . August 29 Moulders .. .. . < >-* .. .. .. September 1

Mr. J. Purtell has gone to Wellington. Prospects of the engineering trades remain fairly good, and unemployed tradesmen have been urged repeatedly to keep in touch with the secretary so that vacancies may be filled without any delay. The recent conference of dairy factory workers in Wellington failed to carry the project of a Dominion federation to realisation. The movement did not secure the endorsement of the Northern district. Possibly the Southern dairy factory employees may carry the project forward on their own.

Labour Day. —The celebration of Labour Day in October is preparing. The project is in the hands of tli% trustees of the Trades Hall, and a collection of funds and trophies is being made among the steady supporters and friends of the Labour movement. At one time the Labour Day procession was a great fixture, at which all Queen Street wondered, but the Domain festivities in recent years have been very successful and very popular particularly with the children. “Kerbstone Contractors.” —A chaotic situation is arising i*i the electrical trades, aided by the prevalent unemployment, and the over-abundance of apprentices. Each apprentice is a potential competitor in the trade. The employment of apprentices and the unemployment among men has resulted in a plague of “kerbstone contractors,” men who, having suffered from the widespread short-sighted cupidity of employers who prefer appren- i tices to journeymen, start on their own and leap into the contractors’ ranks. A state of competition lias come about when cut-throat contracting injures the trade immeasureably. Taranaki Engineers. —Affairs are proceeding very satisfactorily with regard to the Taranaki branch of the Amalgamated Engineers. The registrar of industrial unions has notified that registration will be completed within a few days. Awards will then be obtained covering motor mechanics. sheet-metal workers and general engineers on the same lines as awards now operating in other centres. Mr. O. T. Bishop, national secretary of the Employers’ Federation, has promised agreement on these lines, and Mr. J. F. Cousins, on behalf of the Motor Traders’ Association, has promised hi* agreement as far as motor mechanics are concerned. * * * Labour Women. Meet Auckland women’s branch of the Labour Party held a meeting last week, in the Trades Hall. Mrs. Ballantyne drew attention to the proposed amendment of the Child Welfare Act, which would legalise whippings for delinquent boys. Readings were given by Mrs. Prince on “Disarmament,” Mrs. Cussie on “Comradeship,” Mrs. Soljak on “Women’s Activities in the English Labour Movement,” and Mrs. Ballantyne on “The Causes of Crime.” Correspondence was received from Airs. A. Bromley, Wellington, on the next Labour Women’s Conference. The meeting decided on holding sewing meetings at Mrs. Rowlett’s residence each Thursday afternoon, to prepare for a jumble sale. All branches are being asked to take part in an apron competition on the evening of September 29. The Arbitration Court. —The rumoured amendments to the Arbitration Act contain no more suspicious provision than a three-judge bench. The court as it stands has little enough knowledge of the practices in particular trades, and three judges would not by any means correct the defect though it would probably result in tying the court up with red tape and legalisms even more than it is to-day. Mr. R. F. Barter spoke very strongly the other day on the proposal. He advocated a system of round-table conferences of men in the industry in which the dispute has arisen, as the most likely tribunal to bring about a settlement satisfactory to all parties. During bis experience as a union arbitration agent, and as an assessor, Mr. Barter remarked that he found that however well-intentioned assessors were, they coud not be expected to understand every trade and calling. If judge and assessors were called from the industry they would have the practical support of the industry. “As to rumoured alteration to the preference clause, there can be much said for and against,” remarked Mr. Barter. “Preference has always been given in Conciliation sittings. The system has been very satisfactory to both parties, and in the engineering trade especially, during the last 12 months. I feel sure that as a result of the February conference of the Engineers’ Federation and Ironmasters further improvements will come.” I ndustrial Evolution. —“Employers in other lands might well study with some care the system now being developed by French captains of industry, of giving remuneration for service, which includes not only cash, but good housing accommodation, free medical advice, open spaces, family allowances and other social benefits.”—That is how B. S. Townroe sums up in an article in the July Contemporary Review on Industrial Evolution in France. The fiat rate of wages is very low, highly skilled textile workers and engineers receiving only five or six dollars a week. But to that flat rate are added cost-of-living bonuses, family allowances and equivalents of wages in the form of housing provisions under market rates. Wages have been steadily increasing with the low rate of exchange and high cost of living, until now they are generally about five times more than pre-war rates, though comparison in many cases is difficult owing to the general adoption of piecework. Family allowances have been steadily extended. The family allowances started 30 years ago on the railways and received a filip from the separation allowance of wartime. It is estimated that 3,500,000 workers share 1,017,000.000 francs in family allowances. These are designed, says Mr. Townroe, to encourage stability in employment, and at the same time keep the cradles full, for France is suffer-

ing from a severe shortage of manpower. As in the application to New Zealand, the money is paid not to the toiler, but to the person actually in charge of the children. The system has a firm hold. The labour unions 1 have ceased their opposition, and the j employers have found a resultant in- ' crease in production and a greater content. In housing a great effort has been made. The Northern Railway Company has built 12,000 houses for its employees, each with four rooms or more and costing somewhere about 720 francs a year as rent. Though the rates of wages would not tempt labour from Birtain or America, they lured many other European labourers, Italians, Poles, Spaniards, Belgians, until in view of severe unemployment the influx was stopped. What Do They Want? —Talk of removing the cheese factory workers from within the scope of Arbitration Court awards always incenses the employees in the dairying industry to the limit. The tenth annual report of the Auckland Union last week eagerly took up the cudgels against the abolitionist section of the farmers. The hours of dairy factory workers are far in excess of any other class of workers in New Zealand, and their wages are the lowest. It will be evident to any intelligent person that a wage of £4 Is is not a fair and just recompense for 60 hours of labour covering a seven-day week, and especially taking into consideration that during the winter months a large number of dairy factory workers are unemployed. “We ask,” demands the report, “what do the farmers want? Do they wish them to work longer hours or do they wish to pay a less wage than £4 Is? Both are impossible.” With regard to the abolitionist movement, the report of the executive was emphatic as to the need of some tribunal to adjust conditions between the employers and the workers, and nothing better could the executive see than the court. Arbitration is the acknowledged principle throughout the world. For 33 years it has stood the test in the Dominion’s industry and brought industrial peace. It is a considerable protection to those people who want it abolished. To say that dairy assistants in this country are satisfied would not be correct. So long as they have to work 12 to 15 hours a week longer than other workers for the same pay they have a grievance.