WORK AND WAGES

Evening Star, Issue 12864, 13 July 1906, Page 6

WORK AND WAGES

Frees Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.

SWEATING IN SYDNEY. A HIDEOUS SYSTEM OF BRUTALITY. SYDNEY, July 12. An exhaustive report has been issued by th« Special Committee of the Labor Council on sweated labor in Sydney.. The findings set forth—Slavery docs exist in Svdney to-day. Our women and little chib dren arc daily drawn ont of the slums and made to pass under the hammer of the inexorable auctioneer employed by Capitol. The crack of the stave-owner’s whip is legally forbidden, but daily thousands of unwilling slaves go on with their allotted tasks to the stunting of their physical and mental, growth, and often to the ultimate destruction of body and sonL Many of the cases investigated, especially those instances in which children ate the victimised skives, disclose such a 'hideous system of brutality as to almost justify a denial of our boasted civilisation, while the term “ Christian ” applied to a city where employers thrive on downright slave-dealing is an awful misnomer. Our search disclosed heartless conditions in connection with the dairying industry. Soap and candle works and boilingdown establishments loudly proclaim the presence of “the sweater. Jam, biscuit, lolly, and pickle factories are dens under hia direction, and the fruit-caiming industries, potteries, and kindred industries claim their toll. Though but a little distance was penetrated, your Committee are appalled at the deep-dyed sweating that flourishes in various abhorrent forms. Girls- were employed by a certain firm for nothing for periods ranging up to two years, and afterwards paid half a crown a . 'vveek. There were instances where dismissal took place when the probationary period ended. One clothing factory is described as not fit for a p : g. The wages paid were 7s 6d for forty-eight hours. THE COLLIERY DISPUTES. SYDNEY, July 13. (Rceived July 15, at 10.14 a.m.) There is a brighter outlook in the coal mining troubles at Newcastle- The Hetton workers will resume at the old rates on Monday next, and the Burwood have already resumed. The latter will shortly discus the suspension of the miner which kd to the present trouble. AUCKLAND, July 15. The Executive of the New Zealand Trades and Labor Conference, in reply to the manifesto by the New Zealand Employers’ Federation, says ; —“ Mr Tregear has fallen under their ban because he dared to express a private opinion in a private letter to an indiscreet author,” and adds : “ Unless this tendency to interfere with private affairs is checked, we may soon expect an attempt to determine which church we may worship at.” It is denied that the Employers’ Federation can claim to have assisted to pass any one measure for the betterment of the masses, and it. is asserted that the Federation are actuated solely by selfish motives. It is stated that preference to unionists is the only logical outcome of the Arbitration Act of 1894 (which in the preamble was stated to be an Act to encourage the formation of industrial unions); that the Arbitration Court should grant unconditional preference to unionists; and that unionists would never rest satisfied until they had wrung from the Legislature a measure providing for that inherent right of every unionist. The Federation are asked to consider whether unorganised workers are paid a wigp. sufficient to rear a family decently on or to provide for a rainy day, and then to grant increased pay, when the community would believe their professions of disinterested beneficence. Labor interests might lost ground one dav, but they would regain it the day after, and the opposition of capitalistic Federations would only spur unionists on to renewed energy.