THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19802, 29 May 1926, Page 18

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES. By J. T. Padl. THE NEW TRADES HALL. On Saturday next tiio Otago Labour Council mid tno majority of local unions will enter their new homo in Moray Place, opposite King street. The ceremony of opening the now Trades Hall will be held in the evening. In July, 1901, the Trades and Labour Council entered into possession of the present Trades Hal! in Moray Place, having been previously in rooms in Zealanriin Chambers, Dowling street. The old building winch is being vacated was originally the Y.M C A. and later the Y.W.C.A. rooms, the council purchasing the hall from the Utter By a strange coincidence the original rules of the present council were drafted m 1889 In one of the rooms of the bn lining- which was_ to be Labour’s homo The old hall contained two rooms, but in many ways it Mas unsuited to modern requirements, more especially in tho matter of office . accommodation for secretaries. This, want has been adequately met in the new building which ,s commodious and veli finished. Since its purchase tho building has been completely remodelled internally to suit the requirements of its new owners. JUSTICE IN THE WORKS. “On whnt does authority depend?” asks Mr Seebohm Rountree. He supplies the answer to hie own question:—“Upon justice. On the knowledge that the man in authority wants justice and the square thing. Now an individual can make a mistake. If I dismissed a man before the committee of appeal came into being, he would go about, making a martyr of himself. Now if ho tries to do this his fellow workmen say: ‘Why don’t you appeal?’ If the committee finds that 1 was in the right in dismissing him, that shuts him up. If I make a' mistake, I want to rectify it, and if the committee finds that the man is in the right, then I want to make amends for my misake. We have had only eight cases in three years and the system is working perfectly.” ACCIDENTS TO APPRENTICES. At tho last sittings of the Arbitration Court in Auckland, a number of applications were made by employers working under various Apprenticeship Orders for a more definite distinction to be made between sickness and accidents- not arising out of the employment of the apprentice. Under the first orders made by the court in 1924 it was definitely laid down that an apprentice meeting with an accident out of working hours was to receive his wages during the period of such incapacity. Several employers objected to this provision, as it would include payment for injuries sustained by an apprentice while playing football on a Saturday by breaking a leg or an arm, for which the employer would have to pay him wages during the time he was unable to work. At the instance of the Furniture Trades and Building Trades Unions, the court has made a general amendin'? order providing that where accidents not arising out of, and in the course of. the employinei t, are not specifically provided for, such accidents shall be deemed to be sickness, and the previsions relative to payment of and deductions from wages and making up time shall apply. Existing contracts of apprenticeship are not to be affected by this order. To put it plainly, all appentices starting after May 12 (the date of this ruling) meeting with an accident out of working hours, whether at football ot any other cause, will be paid their wages for two weeks, as the accident will be classed as “sickness”; aßer that period the employer is not liable to pay. For apprentices who started their period of learning the trade prior to Ml'- 12 last, the r wages are to be paid all through the period they are laid aside, but their time so lost must be made up at the end of year, for these eome within the meaning of the phrase, “Existing contracts of apprenticeships are not to be affected by this order. UNEMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY. The alarming growth of unemployment throughout Germany, is adequate proof of the failure of the Dawes JPlan in that country. So serious is the position that the Reichstag has increased the out-of-work allowances by 30 per cent., in order to quieten the unemployed and halt the drift towards Bolshevism. It is estimated that there are 2,000,000 officially out of work, with another 2,500,000 in part employment. The actual figures are easily double these numbers. In addition "There are the . professional workers —clerks, shop assistants, and other professional workers —whose total bring the proportion of unemployed up to an eighth of the entire population of the Republic. In other words, one out of every eight persons in Germany is out of a i° b - Finance Minister Reinhold believes he can stave off the hunger of the unemployed by increasing the luxury taxes, and cutting down taxes on industry to allow for expansion, it is not expected that his Eroposals will produce the desired results, owever. TRADE UNION PROGRESS IN INDIA. An idea of the progress of the All-India Trades Union Congress during the last 12 months can be gathered from the figures of the trade unions affiliated. At Bombay in 1925 there were 37 trade unions affiliated to the Congress representing about 100,000 members. At Madras this year 57 trade unions were affiliated, representing a membership ot 125,000. The attendance of delegates at Madras was also greater than the attendance at Bombay, notwithstanding that Bombay is more of an industrial centre than Madras. The Bombay Textile Labour Union was established on January 1. It was constituted mainly of nine small textile societies, five of which were formed during the textile strike at Bombay last autumn. The union has now over 6000 members, and its funds amount to £2OO. This is a large amount for an Indian trade union to have in hand in view of the fearfully low wages which the textile operatives receive. Prior to the great textile strike at Bombay, only a few small unions existed in the textile industry, the total membership of which did not exceed 3000 out of a mill population of 150.000. During the strike five local textile groups were formed, and later a conference was held, as a result of which these various groups wore imalgamated, and the Bombay Textile Labour Union definitely established. At the end of January the union had 5000 members, and it is expected that this number will be doubled inside of a month. COMPENSATION FOR PERMANENT INJURY. Writing on apprentices and their sick pay, “Industrial Tramp,” in Auckland Star, is reminded of another matter affecting compensation to apprentices who, by accident, have suffered permanent injury by mutilation or otherwise. Until 1922 tire compensation to be paid to an apprentice who, in an accident at work, had suffered permanent injury by mutilation, was generally assessed at- 50 per cent, of the wages he or she (for it included either sex) was receiving at the time of the accident; and as the sufferer was often in receipt of a very small sum per week, the advantage gained was most inadequate. The Workers’ Compensation for Accidents Act was passed in 1900, and I am reminded of the first claim for compensation before the Arbitration Court in Auckland, which was in January, 1902. A girl between the age of 15 and 10 year ; in a lollie factory the previous August, while attending to a guillotine knife, had the tops of three fingers of her right hand cut off, and was permanently disabled. She was entitled to 50 per cent, of her earnings as compensation. The defence was disobcdinece of orders, and therefore contributory negligence, The court ruled that she was entitled to compensation, and as she was shown to bo receiving a wage of four shillings per week, she was awarded compensation at the rate of two shillings per week until she had received the amount she was entitled to under the Act. By the Workers’ Compensation Act, 1922, section 9 lias brought about an improvement in apprentices’ compensation that is not too widely known. It provides that the “average weekly earnings at the time of the accident shall be deemed to be the weekly sum which lie would probably have been able to earn if ho bad then attained the age of 21 years, or had completed his apprenticeship, ■ r had ceased to be an improver, as the ease may be, being in no case less than two pounds per week. .” Thus a paternal Government has effected a much-needed improvement in the position of a worker who, on the threshold of industrial iisefulhicss, has suffered a permanent disablement.