TRADE TRAINING

Evening Star, Issue 25699, 24 January 1946, Page 9

TRADE TRAINING

APPRENTICESHIP LAW A FAR-REACHING RULING A serious obstacle against the employment of boys as apprentices in skilled trades has been created by a decision of the Department of Labour upon the interpretation of the regulations for the reinstatement j of apprentices upon their return from military service (reports the ' New Zealand Herald '). I n niost cases these apprenticeships are, under the regulations, revived for three years. Employers are permitted to employ apprentices in prescribed proportions to jouneymen, and, as the department has decided that revived contract apprentices must be counted in the "quota," few employers will be able to engage additional apprentices d ur rng the next three years. ' A very high proportion of apprentices enlisted in the armed 'services. , Regulations were made providing for the suspension of their contracts and authorising the Industrial Emergency Council to sanction the engagement of apprentices in. substitution for those on military service. Many of these '* replacement apprentices" also entered the services. They were all given the right, upon return from service, to revive their contraots, and the regulations provided that if the period of employment before enlistment was short, as it was in many 1 cases, the contract should be revived for three years. An apprentice whose original contract period has expired is entitled during his post-war service to a special rate of wages, and, as a result of the recent raising of the scales of wages for apprentices, this rate is almost equal to journeymen's wages. POSITION OF BOYS. The Industrial Emergency Council was dissolved a few months ago, and the provision for the employment of replacement apprentices has lapsed. Many apprentices have returned from service as adults, and have been reinstated by their emloyers. The emergency regulations provide that any limitation as to the number of apprentices or the proportion of apprentices to journeymen shall not apply,to revived contracts. The Department of Labour has expressed the opinion that this provision permits the employment of apprentices under revived contracts in excess of the employer's qmota, but it does not > allow the employment of new apprentices if the employer already has his permitted number, including ex-service apprentices. " The department's interpretation may be correct," said an employer yesterday, " but unless the regulations are amended, a deplorable situation will be created. Employers recognised their obligations toward apprentices who have returned from military service, and will give every possible assistance to them to become competent tradesmen . ithin the period of training. But it would cause very severe hardship if the rehabilitation of these servicemen were allowed to obstruct the entry into skilled trades of boys leaving school. MAN POWER ASPECT. "If the war had not intervened, these adult apprentices would long ago have become journeymen, and ixore boys would have been apprenticed. There is a general shortage of man power, and it will be aggravated by the withdrawal of older men who have remained at work beyond the .-etiring age. The return of servicemen .viil only repair the normal wastage of the last six years. Although they are only partly trained, they are better equipped by knowledge and experience, and by physical and mental maturity to become efficient workmen. There is ample room in industry for the returned servicemen and their vounger brothers as well. " The situation created by the department's ruling should be promptly resolved," the employer added. '' It is incredible that the Government intends to turn all boys leaving school during the next three years into blind alleys. If it intends to give them opportunities to enter the skilled trades, the regulations should by immediately i reviewed."