TOM AND LIBOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 57, 8 March 1930, Page 21

TOM AND LIBOUR NOTES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. This Evening, March B—Fellinongers' Executive. Sunday, March o—Front0 —Front of the House. Monday, March 10—.Saddlers, Hairdressers. Tuesday, March 11—Storemen. Wednesday, March 12—Gas Employees, Thursday, March 13—Ferry Employees a.m. and p.m. Shifts. Friday, March 14—Curriers. OIL STORE WORKERS.

Mr. W. Miller, secretary of the New Zealand Storemen and Packers' Federation executive, returned from Wellin« ton on Tuesday, where he had been attending the Court of Arbitration for the oil store workers' application for a new award. The dispute was heard by the Court on the previous day, Mr. B. L. Hammond appearing on behalf of the employers, who, at the outset, challenged the jurisdiction of the federation in including the watchmen in the claims. The Court ruled that watchmen in the oil stores were workers within the meaning of the award, and for the first time they were included in the oil stores section of the award. Their hours were fixed at b'O per week, being a reduction from the custom hitherto of working some of them as much as S4 hours as a weeks work. THE BALLOT FOR GENEVA. The ballot by the Minister of Labour amongst the Labour unions, for the nomination for the position of Labour delegate to Geneva conference in May. is under way, the date for closing beimr Wednesday of next week. Union secre~ taries will please note. There are eight candidates on the selection list, and private advices from Wellington indicate that the candidate puc forward by the Alliance of Labour who was considered to have his best support in that city has a weakened chance due, it is said,- to the publication of the report of the Unemployment Committee, which has had a mixed reception in the South. PLUMBERS' GRIEVANCES. The plumber, as a tradesman, has long been the chopping-block for ill-natured criticism on his time-honoured methods of getting a living, and cartoonists have long revelled in the plumbing trade as affording wide scope for their brushes and pencils on subjects such as going hack to the shop for forgotten tools, while the general public have been represented as having a grievance against the plumber for the length of the bill sent in for work done. But the questioa has never been asked as to whether this much-maligned tradesman has a grievance himself. An article written by my confrere, "J. 5.5.," in his Labour column in the Dunedin "Star" of February 27, would appear to demonstrate that the plumber himself has grievances, for under the above heading he writes: —

Amendments have recently been made to regulations under the Plumbers' Registration Act, 1912. These are in the nature of increased fees for examination and re-examination of apprentice plumbers when applying for registration. The fees have been doubled in some instances. Mr. H. V. Freeman, secretary of the Dunedin Plumbers' Union, r.:;'""s some comments ou the general posit:, i of plumbers iu the following communication to the writer:— "The grievances of plumbers have been intensified over the recent increased fees by the amendment to the Plumbers' Registration Act. It is not generally known that a plumber has to serve six years' apprenticeship, against five years "of other building trades. He is under moral compulsion to attend night classes to enable him to sit for t the Plumbers' Board examination which, through the failure of candidates ■ to pass, is extended to eight years in the majority of cases, as a very small percentage pass the first time of sitting. The failures in many cases are attributed, not without cause, to the rmsatisfactory examination methods, for while plumbing apprentice committees and technical colleges receive the collective marks awarded in the examinations the candidates do not receive their individual section marks, although the journeymen's federation has for years been agitating for this privilege before the Plumbers' Board. "There is something wrong with the system of marking, as recent examination results disclose that in one town everv candidate failed in a very essential "subject, yet six received their registration certificates. In another only one passed in this subject, and six also received their registration certificates. What with unsatisfactory examination methods, increased registration fees, and having now to do military training during technica college vacations, the young plumber's lot is not to be envied."

HOLIDAYS OF APPRENTICES IN GERMANY. The Federal Committee of the German Young Workers' Associations recently carried out an inquiry into the annual holidays of apprentices and young workers, the results of which are given below:— Number of days' Number of apprenholiday a year. tices and young workers. No holidays 2G - 737 1-3 days 17 ' 873 4-5 days • 9 ' o ' B 6-8 days 44,034 9-10 davs 4 ' 714 11-14 days 8 < 314 More than 14 days 4 > 887 The inquiry shows that in the greatf urban centres out of SC,BOO adolescent workers about 10,500, or 19 per cent have no holidays- On the other hand, in towns of less than 5000 inhabitants, 54 p c ol the young workers have regular holidays. In larcre industrial undertakings only 11 per cent of the adolescent workers have no holidays, while in the smaller undertakings 33.4 per cent are in that position. It will be seen from the table that on an average the holidays most frequently granted are from six to eight days a year. _