LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 189, 11 August 1934, Page 18

LABOUR NOTES.

UNION ACTIVITIES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. Sunday, August 12.—Front of tlie House Momfnv? Ua iV, S ust 13.—Furniture Trades (Executive). Tuesday, August 14.—Sforemen. Wednesday, August 13.—Onehunga Carpenters. AN INTERESTING CLAUSE. The record of all awards of the Arbitration Court, all industrial agreements, arid all important decisions in industrial matters and decisions under the Workers' Compensation Act by the Court, is contained in volumes issued each vear by the Department of Labour, each "case or dispute being numbered consecutively from the first case heard by the Court, and dated August 30, 1897. These constitute the official law reports"' of industrial arbitration in New Zealand, and are used for reference by the Court and"advocates before the Court. These books, arc issued in parts during the year for up-to-date consultation, and at the end of each year in book form. They are hardly the class of book that would be read as a relaxation by any hut the most interested reader, and yet from time to time there are paragraphs that arrest one's attention. In one of the recently issued parts I notice an industrial agreement, the Ota'go and Southland timber yards and sawmills employees' agreement, made on May 3, 1934. The case for the union was conducted by the secretary, who is now the Hon. T. M.L.C. There is nothing out of the usual run in- the various clauses providing for hours, wages and working conditions. The agreement has no preference clause in it, as we usually have it, but clause 12, "Subscriptions _to Workers' Union," in rather interesting. It reads: —"It is a condition of employment of all workers in sawmills coming within the scope of this agreement that they shall, while so employed, contribute a minimum sum of 2/ per month to the expenses of the union, and employers covered by this agreement shall collect and pay such sum to the union, provided the union supplies to the particular employer concerned a monthly notice of workers employed by him who have not otherwise contributed such sum to. the expenses of the union." It must be noted that the employees are not compelled to become members of the union—they are free agents in that respect —but they must pay at least 2/ to the union as their quota to the expenses of the union in maintaining the working conditions under which they work. This clause is all right in fair weather, while amicable relationships exist between employers and the workers, but I have my doubts if the clause could, be maintained in a court of law. The agreement is for six months —the shortest term, that the Act allows—and expires on November 7. I understand the reason for such a short term is that, ■when the agreement was made in May, both parties had. the idea that the 25 per cent exchange rate might be off by November, and the cost of living would naturally fall. Since then a definite announcement has been made by the Reserve Bank that the exchange rate is to remain for a year or two. By the way, this case bears its distinguishing number as the 10,029 th since the start of the Arbitration Act.

A CANTERBURY CONFERENCE. Tho Canterbury district council of the Alliance of Labour has organised a conference of all, the executives of Unions for the consideration of the' question of the restoration of the wages that were reduced in 1931. The conference was to be held in the Trades Hall, Gloucester Street, on Wednesday evening last. This is one of the questions that merits the attention of our Auckland unions, but hitherto they have been relying on the Labour members of the various local bodies to do the protesting, notwithstanding the fact that the Labour councillors are in a minority on the various bodies. UNEMPLOYMENT LESSENING. The Acting-Premier of Queensland' told a deputation last month, that he was hopeful that at the end of the next twelve months rations would be a thing of the past. There were some centres in Western Queensland without unemployed, and it was only/with the greatest difficulty that meii could be found for the work offering. This position had largely arisen from the ringbarking scheme, upon which &370,000 had been epent last year and some 10,000 men had been given work. As a result £150,000 ■would be spent for similar purposes* this year. The Acting-Premier added that the fact that New South Wales was spending £10,000,000 this, year upon unemployment relief should considerably' reduce the number of workless men migrating to Queensland.

FATIGUE AND WORKING HOURS. In a broadcast talk from London recently on "Fatigue and the Modern World," Dr. Mary Smith said that long hours "simply do not pay." "It was demonstrated during the wai , , when munition work had to be carried on at , high pressure. The reasoning that, if one piece of work could be done in one hour, two could be done in two, and' twelve in twelve, broke down," she said. "It did not work out that way, and it was found that less work was "done in twelve hours than ten. In addition, there were more accidents, and more, people stayed away sick. Most of us eimply do not know what exhaustion means to-day. One hundred years ago there were children employed in Lancashire textile. factories, during busy times, from 3 a.m. until 10 p.m., for a period lasting six weeks. Normally the hours were 6 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., and the children were too tired to take their food. That was very real exhaustion," she added, "but for 100 years the fight ' had been going on to lengthen the period of childhood." Dr. Smith compared those conditions with those of a modern factory> where, perhaps, the young workers attended school during part of the time, and had reasonable hours, with societies and games. She spoke- of an experiment on fatigue which she carried out on herself over three nights, on the first only having one and a half hours' sleep, and much less than normally on the following two. Tests showed that it took her sixteen days to regain her normal condition. i . THE VICIOUS CIRCLE. "When someone stops buying, Someone stops selling; When someone stops selling, Someone stops making: When someone stopsinaking, Someone stops working; When someone stops working, i Someone stops earning; , When someone stops earning, SoQxieopQ etops buying. c-"Lojidop Clarion/*