APPRENTICESHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 11, 13 July 1944, Page 7

APPRENTICESHIP

EMPLOYERS' V!EWS

NEW PROPOSALS CONDEMNED | P.A. AUCKLAND. July 12. 1 A submission that the present ; scheme of. apprenticeship was work- ■ ing very satisfactorily and should not sbe interfered with was made when 1 the Auckland Provincial Employers' ! Association presented evidence to the . Commission of Inquiry which is investigating the existing apprenticeship legislation and vocational and prevocational training facilities. The association's case was presented by Mr. W. E. Anderson, the secretary, and evidence was also given by Mr. D Budge, on behalf of the Auckland Ironmasters' Association, and Mr. J. A. Steele, president of the Contractors' Section of the Auckland Electrical Traders Association. The employers who were members of apprenticeship committees had set up a committee to examine the present system and suggest desirable amendments, said Mr. Anderson. The present system was 21 years old, and for that reason alone some employers believed amendments might be necessary in view of altered methods of manufacturing which had been introduced in recent years. After examining the system thoroughly the committee was unable to suggest one amendment to the law as it stood. The Act had operated very efficiently for 21 years, and in the opinion of the employers required no amendment today. . Proposals had been made that the education of, apprentices should be continued to the age of 18 by attendance at instruction classes during one full day a week within working hours, said Mr. Anderson. That proposal clearly implied that at least to the extent of one day weekly compulsory education would be extended in the case of apprentices from the age of 15 to 18. The employers he represented had given careful consideration to the proposals and could not recommend the making of a general rule applicable to every apprentice within the proposed age limits. Owing to the extension of the compulsory period of school attendance and the reduction of weekly working hours the association contended that apprentices today entered employment with a longer and better education, and with more leisure than they had in 1923 to pursue their studies. The association did not support the proposal that the employer should be required to allow an apprentice to attend classes of instruction during ordinary working hours without deduction from /wages. A sensible lad anxious to become more than a rank and file journeyman would on at least two evenings a week attend classes at school, taking general subjects, even if appropriate trade classes were not available, and would be encouraged by his parents-to attend if they were sensible people. The employers generally were strongly opposed to the proposal of apprenticeship to industry instead of to an individual employer, and that in order to give them wider experience of trade they should be employed by several employers during their apprenticeship. Mr. Anderson stated that under, the proposal an employer would not select his own apprentice and would be required to employ many boys whom he would not have engaged under the/ present system Employment with each employer would be of a more or less temporary nature, the apprentice' would not take the same interest in his work, and in the well-being of his employer's business. The employer would not take the same interest in the boy's training. Discipline would deteriorate and employment after the apprenticeship contract had been completed would not be prolonged in as many cases as it was at present.