USE FOR ALIENS

Evening Star, Issue 23908, 11 June 1941, Page 8

USE FOR ALIENS

WORK IN BRITISH INDUSTRY 1 With nearly a quarter of a million foreigners living m Britain, and a growing demand for men and women to fill .vacancies caused by the war effort, the International Labour Branch has been set up by the British Ministry of Labour to make the best possible use of aliens’ services (writes the London correspondent of the 1 Christian Science Monitor ’). In addition to some 150,000 longterm foreign residents, Britain is giving haven to approximately* 60,000 German and Austrian refugees from Nazi oppression, 14,000 Poles, 10,000 Czeeho-Slovaks, 4,000 Norwegians, 7.000 Netherlander, 14,000 Belgians, and 10,000 Frenchmen. Of 27,000 aliens interned, mostly Germans and Austrians, 10,000 have been released and about 7,000 sent to the dominions, leaving 7,000 men and 3.000 women still interned. Special tribunals are in session to examine cases of those eligible for release under a Government White Paper. The _ International Labour Branch, regarding the overwhelming majority of that cosmopolitan community as Britain’s allies, either by nationality or ideology, and knowing they are anxious to play their parts, has advocated a “more positive policy of welcoming them alongside the Britisher in' the laboratories,' factories, and in the fields on the basis of international solidarity in the same fight for freedom.’’ POLICY OF COLLABORATION. The branch pursues this policy in collaboration with the Allied Governments and the foreign trade unions in this country, and with the refugee organisations. It also has secured the support of the Trade Unions Congress, the British Employers’ Confederation, and of certain anti-Nazi German and Austrian bodies. Attributed to the activities of the branch is the marked change in official attitude toward the foreigners evidenced by the issue of 3,000 work permits a month. Foreign workers, both men and women, are eligible for the_ British training centres, where _ intensive courses for war work are given. Some also have their own training schemes. There is a technical training centre in Scotland for Polish boys and Czech classes for industrial arts have been organised in London. Foreign workers receive the same pay and conditions as British workers, and come under the British health and unemployment in-, surance schemes. In most cases they join British trades unions and also their own national “centres.” These “centres” are groups of workers organised not on trade but on national lines, and it is intended that they shall be the cadre for trades union organisation in the different countries after the war. They join to form the Central Union of Allied Workers, which works in

close co-operation with the British Trades Union Congress. WORKING IN FACTORIES. At the present time Czech natural scientists and engineers are working, not only in England, but in Palestine, South Africa, and Rhodesia. All nationalities, particularly Belgians, Poles, and French, are working in aircraft and munition factories, often in groups under their own foremen. There are also foreign workers in the British shipyards; French and Belgians are in British iron, coal, and tin mines. Merchant ships of all the conquered countries, including Denmark, arc working for Britain, and a club for Allied mercantile marine officers recently was opened in London. Norwegian whaling ships now base themselves on British ports.