TRADES AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 52, 2 March 1929, Page 18

TRADES AND LABOUR NOTES.

INDUSTRIAL REPRESENTATION IN GREECE.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) ( UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. f This Evening, March 2—Baker*. 1 Monday, March 4—Shipwrights. Drivers. Grocers' Assistants. Tuesday, March Engineering Trades. Wednesday, March 6—Auckland Carpeuters. Onehunga Carpenters. 1 Friday, March 8— Curriers. 1 UNEMPLOYMENT. The number of applicants for employment registering at the local Labour Bureau, as announced, in tlus Press from week to week, has been increased lately, and critics of the industrial situation have arrived at the conclusion that unemployment is more rife than it was when the Ward Government took office at the end of the year. This conclusion is not altogether a correct one, for the secretaries of the local unions will tell you that there is very little alteration in the reaJ position. During the last year, under the Coates Administration, when little was being done to relieve the ■ituation, workers seeking employment, after signing on as unemployed at the Labour Department's office for a, week or two, despairing of getting a job, got tired of reporting day after day, and, of course, the figures dwindled considerably. As soon as Reform got its "walking ticket," and the Ward Government assumed the reins of government, with promises of definite schemes for the relief of the workless, disappointed seekers for work took fresh heart, and since the beginning of the year have been registering afresh. But it takes a long timo to get schemes of betterment into working order, and I am afraid that in expecting Sir Joseph Ward to eliminate the spectre of unemployment and want from our midst by the waving of a magic wand of office there are many unreasonable persons in our midst. They have cited the fact that last month Messrs. J. S. Fletcher, M.P. (Grey Lynn) and G. C. Munns, M.P. (Roskill), paid a joint visit to Wellington, and claimed to have made special arrangements for the relief of unemployment in their districts and Auckland generally. So far there is no tangible evidence that these schemes have effected any noticeable difference in the absorption of the unemployed, and there are to-day many poor anxious ones uttering the prayer, "Oh, let it be soon."

"TOO OLD AT FORTY." Tt, is some years since this axiom was used as a warning to workers who themselves wore not getting younger, but last week the margin thus indicated would appear to have been sTTII further abbreviated by one employer of labour in Auckland. The incident, which came under iny own notice, was caused by a prospective employer ringing up the office of the Painters' Union, and asking the secretary to send him a good experienced man to paint an office. The secretary, with the view of sending a man that would give t-atisfaction, notified one of his unemployed members to report for work the next morning. He was middleaged, but he was willing, efficient, and <i\perienced: in fact, his record allowed that he had worked for one employer for 15 years at a stretch. On presenting himself the next morning the intending employer looked him over and said he Tvn-i ton old —he wanted a. young man, Tint more than 2«V — and the union-sent man had to retire in favour of a younger ynan. That «»mo week tfcerft ya# bro«4-

wasted from our IYA station a series of admirable ehort addresses by various speakers on the burning question of vocational training for our boys, but I noticed none of tlie speakers offered any advice to parents on selecting a trade for their boys that would enable them to gtinnount the problem of unemployment when they were too old to work after they had reached the mature age of 26. ALLIANCE OP LABOUR. Taking advantage of a visit to Auckland in connection with a Conciliation Conference, having for its object a new Working agreement for the waterside workers, Messrs. J. Roberts and L. Glover, addressed a meeting of memberß of the local Trades Unions' executives in the Trades Hall on Wednesday even- j ing last. The meeting had been called I by the Alliance of Labour to enable Messrs. Roberts and Glover, as the two chief executive officers, to meet the union executives of Auckland with a view of scertaining objections held by many of tlie unions to affiliating with that body. About 60 attended the meeting, and there was a free interchange of opinion from both speakers and audience. Several speakers advanced the opinion that the capitation to the Alliance was too high, and unions, in the present strenuous times, in which there was so much unemployment prevalent, could not afford to incur the liability of 1/ per member per annum. Another speaker considered that the administration of the organisation was not democratic enough, as it tended to too much centralisation. Altogether, the meetng served a good purpose, as it afforded an opportunity for an interchange of frank and candid criticism.

NEW LABOUR LAWS IN CHINA. Under proposed legislation, the working day in China will be limited to eight hours. Only under exceptional circumstances may factories petition the Government for an extension of the limit to 10 hours. Minors, boys and girls above the age of 14 and below IG, will under no condition be allowed to work more than eight hours, and women are prohibited from working at night. Child labour will be barred, and minors permitted to engage in the lightest work only. The right of workers is considered in a special section of the law, which provides at least one month's notice of dismissal and the payment of a minimum of at least one month's wages to workers discharged when not for acts of violence, or because otherwise unsuited for continuance. Educational facilities for youths employed in factories, special wage scales for persons engaged in dangerous work, as well as compensation during illness, are other provisions of the Nationalist Government's draft of the labour law. Another interesting feature of the proposed Chinese labour law is that of profitsharing Under that law workers will lie participating in the profits of- the industries in which they are engaged, and that participation will be made a legal obligation on the part of the industry. The provision states that 10 per cent of the net profits of any factory, after due deductions for a reserve fund, shall tie distributed among the management and directors, 45 per cent among the shareholders, and 45 per cent among the workers. Labour will thus be entitled to nearly one-half of the profits. The Ministry of Industry. Commerce, and Laltour, under the law, will establish a factory insp ctorate to supervise the I enforcement of he labour legislation, and it is stipulate . that "any attempt tc

evade the provision for the distribution of profits shall be regarded as a criminal offence, and will be punishable as a fraud."

The bill relating to the composition of the Senate, which has been introduced in the Greek Chamber, lays down that 11 Senators shall be elected by trade organisations. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Trade Chambers, the Chambers of Labour, and the Chambers of Scientists and Artists will elect two Senators each, and the Chambers of Agriculture three Senators. Pending the setting up of Chambers of Labour, their place will be taken for the purpose of the election by the General Confederation of Labour. The Senators who represent these organisations must not be candidates of any political party. Each member of the organisation who is over 21 years of age and in full possession of the rights of citizenship may vote for as many candidates as his organisation has the right to elect. No elector may vote in two different organisations. The Senators representing occupational bodies will be elected every three years by absolute majority (one-fourtli of the total number of electors) at the first ballot or by relative majority at the second.