LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1939, Page 19

LABOUR NOTES.

UNION ACTIVITIES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.)

UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. Alondaj-. April 17.—Furniture Trades, Cutters and Pressors. Butchers. Tuesday. April 18.—Chemical Manure Workers, Fellmongers. Wednesday, April 10.—Onehunga Cnjpenters. Thursday. April 20.—Trades Council. Metalworkers' Assistants. THE CONFERENCE. This has been a rather slack week in Auckland so far as union activities are concerned, as the leading officials have been away at Wellington attending the annual conference of the New Zealand Labour party. Although opened on Easter Monday, at the time of writing the conference is still in session, but will finish up this week. There are well over COO delegates in conference and over SO remits set down for consideration. The first two days were taken up with considering policy matters. Cabinet Ministers and Labour members of Parliament have a seat in the conference ex officio, in addition to delegates directly appointed by the affiliated organisations, so the conference decisions may be regarded as the recording of the political barometer for the ensi£ ing year.

The official account of the transactions will not be reported to the rank and file members of the partv until the delegates return to their organisations, but it is certain that the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, after his clear-cut report to the conference this week, will be in a position to carry out the policy of the Government with the almost unanimous backing of the partv. His statement was received with enthusiasm. Not .the least interested of those present at the sessions were delegates from the Commonwealth, Messrs? W. Riddiford, representing the Australian Miners' Federation; R. A. King, secretary of the Labour Council of New South Wales; and T. Wright, member of the executive of the Australian Counci of Trades Unions. Mr. Riddiford, when addressing the conference, saidIf you would loan us Mr. Savage for 12 months we would have a Labour Government in power in every Australian State and in the Commonwealth Parliament.

THE HOUSING PROBLEM. Notwithstanding the operations of the Mate Housing Minister and his Department in turning out new houses to the tune of thousands in a rear, assisted by private builders to a limited extent under the State Advances Act the Dominion, and Auckland in particular, is still woefully deficient in housing accommodation. Over 8000 applications for houses under the housing scheme are awaiting satisfaction in Auckland alone and the cry is "still they come." Of course, landlords have been trying the last few years to meet the deniand for housing accommodation by building new flats as well as converting existin* large houses into flats. These are quickly taken tip at a prico by young married couples, but the results are scarcely satisfactory. If New Zealand is to keep up its population by natural means and ° t ,Z, !i e ln J unctio ». "keep your cradles lull, it cannot be done in a flat, as the average landlord has a rooted objection to children in a flat, and as soon as the contingency arises, notice to quit is given. One such case came under my notice this week. A young couple have occupied a flat for nearly four years but there is now a baby "some months old, and the fiat has gone forth and they have to find fresh premises. They hope to b c one of the eight thousand' applicants who will be successful in securing a (jrovernment house. °

WAGES STILL TOO LOW IN U.S.A Labour unions, campaigning for higher wages while the employers were trving to drive pay-rolls down, added an average of £32 a year to the income of every factory worker in the United States in 1937, according to a report made by the American Federation of Labour. Even with this increase, the report adds, the average annual income of the lmer-paid groups failed to reach the £437 a year estimated as needed for an adequate living for a family of five.

After nearly three years of business recovery, in 1935-36 the large majority of self-supporting American families were receiving incomes that were far from "adequate to give them a health and efficiency living standard," the A.F.L. reported.

Nearly half of American families which are not on relief Teceive less than £200 a year, while nearly 80 per cent live on incomes of less than £400. Some 12 million families get an average of £121 a year.

Great technical advances since 1929, it is pointed out, make it possible for industry to advance wages and shorten hours and still manage to decrease labour cost per unit by 6 per cent. Yet in 1929 the average weekly wage was £5 19/, -while in July, 1938," it was only £4 19/8, says the survey.

A FACTORY MIGRATES. The complete personnel of a barge Austrian firm of glove manufacturers will soon arrive in Australia, says the "Daily News," the Sydney Labour daily. The migrants include the board of directors and all the skilled technicians. Approval for their entry into the country has been granted by the Federal Migration Branch. The firm will open a factory near Sydney and will \ise Australian materials. " An undertaking has been given to employ a full complement of Australian operatives at award wages and conditions. The'firm has been forced to leave Vienna hurriedly because of the anti-Jewish pogroms instituted by the Nazi regime. Experts attached to the company have examined Australian supplies of leather and tanning and other process requisites and reported their satisfaction with the materials.

The company has a large export trade from Austria' and hopes to regain it when established. Negotiations are now taking place for a factory cite.