EVIL OF CASUAL LABOR
SCHEME TO REGULATE EMPLOYMENT AT LIVERPOOL. An important scheme for dealing with the grave evil of. casual employment was put into force at Liverpool on July 15th. The work of the docks in a normal week could be done by about 15,i. men in regular employment, but under the existing chaotic circumstances of casual labor the number who are employed every week in the Liverpool docks amounts to 27,000 or 28,000. With the inauguration of the Insurance Act a definite systematised effort will bo made to end this evil. The plan to bb adopted has been arrived at after a series of investigations by a committee representative of both masters and men. The details have been thrashed out and perfected by the Board of Trade.
All the men are to be registered, and the door will be closed against casual newcomers until the registered supply, by the efflux of time, approximates to the demand. Each man registered will be given a tally, without which it will be impossible for him to obtain work.
Employers will be furnished with perforated sheets of wage tickets, and when the wages due to a man are made out his tally number will be noted on the ticket. The tickets will be sent to a central clearing-house, from which payment will be made at the end of the week.
The scheme also provides for the carrying out of tho employers’ obligations under the Insurance Act. The men’s cards will be retained at the clearing-houses, and stamped on the payment of the wages. . Under the Ai the legal liability to insure ‘is fixed upon the first employer in the week, but by the system adopted, at Liverpool it will be possible to distribute the contributions amongst the various employers of dock labor, pro rata to the amount of wages paid. The cost of running the scheme will be borne jointly by the Board of Trade and the shipowners.
A clearing-house committee, consisting of representatives of employers and men, will deal with questions affecting the labor supply of the port.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8191, 5 August 1912, Page 4
Word Count
347EVIL OF CASUAL LABOR New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8191, 5 August 1912, Page 4
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