GRADING WORKERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 306, 22 June 1912, Page 4

GRADING WORKERS.

Few will deny the right of any combination of workers to combine for mutual protection, and so long as the activities of trades unionist organisations are conducted along legitimate lines, just so long will they nourish and become a power in the land for great good. Unfortunately, however, recent years have brought into the limelight ■a parasitical group of self-styled Labor leaders that have succeeded in doing the cause of unionism incalculable harm°, and if the activities of this class are not quickly nipped in the bud by the legislative pruning knife, the principle of trade unionism will be brought into utter contempt. Apropos of which, the New Zealand Shipping and Commerce •paper points out that the time is ripe for some statesmanlike measure to be placed on the statute book that will fully recognise the absolute right of the honest skilled artisan to receive the highest possible pay under the best working conditions. It claims that this cannot be accomplished unless a system of grading is instituted. In skilled trades, it holds, there should be three grades, the first comprising the highly skilled, honest and sober workmen. The second grade would consist of those who through adverse circumstances have been unable to fully qualify themselves as first-class artisans, or who, through an occasional week-end carousal, present themselves bleary-eyed and only half up to the mark on Mondays. This sort of workman is not entitled to receive the same reward as he of the higher type whom we wish to see in grade one. The third grade should comprise the older men, who, through reason of advancing years and by operation of the minimum wage clause in the arbitration awards, are now forced out of the class of work to which they are best adapted. Many of these are useful men, better able to earn a wage at that trade to which they have devoted the larger part of their lives, than to adapt themselves to new conditions, and are now compelled to make a precarious living in other walks of life or have been forced to accept charitable aid. Each grade should carry with it a. certificate of efficiency and good conduct similar to the certificate issued by the Board of Trade to officers in the mercantile marine, and bearing on its face the seal of the respective guild to which the individual worker adheres. Every applicant for enrolment should at first he accepted as a probationer, only receiving probationers' wages, the rate fixed by the Arbitration Court. An examining board would, during the probationary period, put every applicant for membership through a practical examination, during which time the tools and implements of his trade would be placed: in his hands for demonstration purposes, this to be the practical part of the examination. A mild surveillance over the applicant's personal character during the same period would also be exercised. This latter may seem at first sight somewhat inquisitorial, but we contend that it is necessary both for the protection of the better class worker, as also for the employer. On the one hand, it is unjust that the first-class skilled artisan of sober habits should be forced to accept the same pay as a man of lesser skill and intemperate habits. On the other hand, it is 'equally unjust to the employers of labor to have foisted upon them men laeking in skill and of lax habits, discovered only after several weeks of time and loss through wages paid but not earned. A certificate of efficiency and sobriety would, in short, guard both worker and employer. The executive empowered to issue these parchment certificates would be drawn from (1) the State,, through its Department of Labor; (2) elective representatives from the respective labor guilds (necessarily these positions would be greatly sought after amongst workers, and would comprise the brightest intellects and best workmen); only actively-engaged workers in the industry should be eligible; (3) the employers would similarly be represented on these boards of examination. Our contemporary proceeds:—-"Under the present minimum wage system all workers, irrespective of qualifications and character, receive the same wage. This is an injustice amounting to a scandal. The worker of mediocre ability is the only one satisfied and wishes to see the system maintained. His rightful place is grade 2. The highly-skilled artisan has been so levelled down that he has lost all ambition to excel, and is rightfully dissatisfied. The old and useful type in j with grade 3 should not, as at present, be forced out into the cold, and employers cannot be expected under the present system to lose money by employing them at what are called minimum rates, but what aTe really standard rates in the trade concerned.