WHAT IS SKILLED LABOR .

Evening Star, Issue 8267, 12 July 1890, Page 2

WHAT IS SKILLED LABOR .

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your issue of July 2 and in the report of the painters' meeting (Mr Irvine being chairman) it was stated that it seemed strange that when wharf laborers received Is fid an hour—which was equal to 10j per day of eight hours—men who had tcrvcrl six or seven years at learning a trade should be expected to work for less than unskilled laborers. Now, I maintain and would like to point out to Mr Irvine that a whart laborer is as much a skilled laborer as a painter, and more so, for a wharf laborer has to take his turn at a paint brush at times, and produces just as much satisfaction to his employer as a painter would. To go outside of painting by the yard wo have also men in our ranks who are gifted with that noble art so much admired by our citizens—namely, "the artist." To satisfy Mr Irvine as regards the rough part of the business, leaving the artist out, I will get a gang of wharf laborers to exchange places with a gang of painters, and we w ill then see which of the two occupations is the most skilful and difficult. I might also mention that the majority of our members are men who have served an apprenticeship, and belong to the Seamen's Union, which is not only a credit to them, but to the whole colony, and have further been the principal promoters of painters asking for an increase in wages. In conclusion, I hope when Mr Irvine is presiding at a future meeting that he will not cast any reflection on such a bady of men, who are just as compentent with a paint brush as they are with a hook and shovel, and, further, to respect us in proportion, for the time may be close on hand when tho painters of Dunedin would only be too glad of their assistance to drag them out of their present position.—l am, etc., ROBT. S. HICKLINC, Branch Secretary Wharf Laborers' Union. ■ Dunedin, July 11.