APPRENTICESHIP

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 174, 11 April 1923, Page 8

APPRENTICESHIP

NEW AND IMPORTANT PROPOSALS FOR DISCUSSION BY CONFERENCE EXAMINING COMMITTEES New and important proposals for the improvement of the law relating to apprentices are contained in a draf Bill which is to be discussed at a conference of employers and workers in Wellington on April 18. The conference has been convened by tho Minister of Labour. The draft provides that the head teacher of every public or private primary school or technical nigh school shall, whew requested by the Secretary of Labour to do so, forward to the nearest Inspector of Factories at the time that each boy cr girl leaves the school without proceeding to a higher school, or as early as possible beforehand, a return showing the standard in which the pupil is at the time of leaving, with a report regarding character and the teacher’s opinion about the pupil’s aptitudes. Where employment for the boy or girl is required, it is to be the duty of the inspector to advise and assist in obtaining employment for which the boy or girl is best fluted, and the inspector may require the boy or girl to submit to examination by a medical practitioner approved by and paid for by the Minister, to ascertain his or her fitness for the employment proposed. There is provision for the examination of an apprentice when notice is given to the Inspector of Factories that an examination is desired for the purpose of ascertaining the progress and behaviour of the apprentice or of ascertaining whether the employer or the apprentice, as the case may be, has fulfilled the obligations of the contract of apprenticeship. The examination is to be conducted by a committee consisting of persons selected by the workers on the one hand and the employers on the other, with a chairman chosen by the workers and employers’ representatives on the committee. The chairman is to have a casting vote only. Where the apprentice has failed to satisfy tho examiners, the committee may authorise the employer to withhold for as long as it thinks fit the increase in wages that may be next payable in accordance with the contract. In that case, the apprentice is not to bo deemed to enter upon liis next year or period or apprenticeship until the expiration of that time. If the committee is satisfied that the apprentice is not fitted for the employment, it may cancel ths apprenticeship. If the committee is satisfied as the result of tho examination that the employer has not provided sufficient opportunity to the apprentice to learn the industry, it may require the employe.” to pay the wages for the next year or period as if the examination had been passed, or it may order the employer to give such work to the apprentice as will enable the apprentice to acquire a proper knowledge of the industry; or, again, it may cancel the contract or transfer the apprentice to another employer who is qualified and willing, within a reasonable time, to undertake tho obligation.

The Minister may on tho recommendation of the committee at any time prohibit an employer that is considered unfit to teach apprentices in an industry from employing apprentices until be has satisfied the Minister that he has become fitted. Apprentices who have served their apprenticeships are to be entitled to certificates! of competency and to the use of the word ‘certificated” after their name. Where there is a technical school or workshop, or other suitable place within a reasonable distance of the employer’s place of business and of the residence of tho apprentice, in which tho apprentice could obtain spitable training to supplement tho employer’s teaching, the employer is to send his apprentice to the school for such number of hours per week (if any) during working time as may bo presenbed in the award by which the employer and tho apprentice are bound. Tho award mav require the employer to pay the school fees of any apprentice that attends such classes in accordance with tho Act. f Any boy or girl who is desinous or entering into an apprenticeship contract and who satisfies the Minister on application that he or she is in necessitous circumstances may be granted by the Minister such assistance, in money or otherwise, as the Minister thinks fit, but the cost is not to exceed ten shillings a week for such period as the Minister determines.