INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23055, 4 December 1936, Page 3

INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES

By J. T. Paul

The easiest reply to a man who offends you is always to offend him back. To refrain from doing so is not necessarily a proof of cowardice. If it were there could be no civilisation, no progress, and no law.—Vernon Bartlett. ADULT APPRENTICES Employers in Auckland are now concerned (says the Herald) whether adult apprentices are to be allowed in excess of the proportion laid down under existing apprenticeship orders. Under the recent Statutes Amendment Act any person who has attained the age of 18 years and upwards may, with the approval of the Minister of Labour, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Apprentices Act, 1923. enter into a special contract of apprenticeship with an employer to serve as an apprentice for such period and upon such terms and conditions as in the circumstances the Minister thinks reasonable and equitable. The purpose of this clause, which revokes section 11 of the Apprentices Act, 1923, is to remove difficulties in the apprenticeship of older youths or young men who missed opportunities of learning trades in the years of depression. It is pointed out that unless the engagement of these adult apprentices in certain industries is permitted no purpose of great value will be served by the amendment to the legislation The proportion of apprentices was fixed with the idea of providing a sufficient number of journeymen to cater for the normal requirements of the trades affected, but industries are expanding beyond what was often anticipated, so that unless the proportion of apprentices to journeymen is enlarged, the supply of prospective journeymen will hardly be sufficient to supply the needs of the trades. The Government has already tacitly admitted the principle in declaring its intention to increase the number of trainees in the building programme it contemplates under its housing scheme In the circumstances employers generally would welcome an early announcement by the Minister of Labour on the policy he intends to pursue in the admission of adult apprentices to the various industries. It is expected by employers that the basic wage will not be made to apply in respect of adult apprentices. FREE SPEECH A real" danger to democracy lies In the hindrance of free speech by disorderly .interruption; and it seemed to me (writes Stephen Glynn in Time and Tide) after the war that the whole condition of things had changed in England. Before 1914 heckling was always allowed, as it would not have been in Ireland: but it was civilly used, and if the speaker knew his job, it was rather a help than a hindrance. But the mere bellowing ejaculations of dissent I never heard till somewhere after 1920. These were in halls taken by the candidate or by his party at a contested election, to give him an opportunity of expressing his views. The meetings were open to the public; but that did not give the public or any member of it the right to prevent the speaker from being heard. If it .did, there would be an end to all such meetings, for half a dozen noisy fellows can prevent anyone from stating a case; and rowdies are easily found to carry out such a job. Hardly anything matters more to democracy than the right of free speech, and democracy should protect it. The question should be made a test one at some election where this trouble is seriously felt.

UNIONISTS AND STATE HOUSING The Government's housing scheme was discussed at a recent conference of building trades secretaries in Auckland, when Mr H. Campbell, secretary to the Auckland Trades and Labour Council, opposed a resolution asking the Government to allow the scheme to be undertaken directly by members of the building trade unions. "In opposing the resolution I pointed out the urgency of the demand for housing,." he said to an Auckland pressman, "and that the Government was. alive to the need for building houses quickly. As an organisation would have to be built up, I said the building trade unions were not in a position at present to run a scheme of this dimension, as the Government wanted houses this year, or early next, and it could not wait until we set up an elaborate organisation." Mr Campbell's comments arose from an article published in the first issue of the Borer, official organ of the Auckland Carpenters and Joiners' Union, which criticised the failure of Mr J. A. Lee, Parliamentary Undersecretary in Charge of Housing, to provide trade unions v/ith particulars of the State housing plan. This article was in the nature of a report of a meeting attended by representatives of the building trade unions, and of a deDutation which waited upon Mr Lee in Wellington. Mr J. G. Kennerley. secretary to the Auckland Carpenters and Joiners' Union, said Mr Lee informed the deputation that he had the service of the best brains in the Dominion.

Several delegates to the building trades conference in Auckland declared that the unions concerned should not allow a State scheme to get into the hands of private companies, and it was suggested that a motion of protest should be forwarded to the Government

Eventually the following seven clauses were passed, Messrs Campbell and Williams, representing the Painters' Union, and Messrs Main and Rabbetts, the Plasterers' Union, voting against them:—

1. All materials should be supplied directly by the Government for thp whole scheme.

2. All work should be done by day labour, and all men supplied from the respective unions concerned. 3. A joint supervisory committee should be set up consisting of Government and union representatives, the latter to be selected by the unions themselves.

4. The various clauses of the present Apprenticeship Act should be applied and enforced so as to meet the needs of the building industry. 5. In the supplying of the required labour by the unions, no adverse discrimination on account of age to be permitted. 6. The foremen to be elected democratically by the men on individual jobs. 7. Workshops to be run under exactly the same conditions as are applied to the actual buildings. This resolution has been forwarded to the Government, but no reply has been received. POLITICAL OBJECTIVES What is it that the people want? asks Mr Harold Macmillan, Conservative M.P., writing in the New Outlook When one cuts through all the theoretical argument of political leaders, thp pathetic truth of the moderation of the people's demands is revealed. They want work and wages. Is that unreasonable? And they want their work to be directed in such a way that we shall begin to tap the abundance which science has brought within our reach They want an adequate diet for the 20.000,000 people who. Sir John Orr tells us, cannot buy enough of the health-giving foodstuffs which British farmers could grow. They want us to clean up the disgrace of the depressed areas, and, out of the greater productivity of a fully-employed population they want a comfortable retirement for the aged. But the question to-day is not whether we have the wits to know what to do. but whether we have the courage, the patriotism and the generosity of spirit to combine the strength 'of the progressive forces to obtain the power to do it. Each one of us must accept our share of responsibility. A progressive alliance would give' life and vigour to a forward policy. Is there in Britain to-day a sufficient number of individuals attached to the great princiDles of liberty and progress who would give their time and energy to such a task? On that may depend the future progress of the world.

WORKERS AND UNIONS Serious effects of the present shortage of farm labour are constantly being urged on the Government from the farmer's point of view. The farm hand has generally been silent. A man employed on a Waikato farm, however, has explained in a letter to the Auckland Star the position as he sees it from the farm-workers' point of view. " Following the fixation of the low guaranteed price for butter-fat." writes the correspondent. " a minimum wage for farm workers anything like that fixed /or labour in general would have resulted in a great outcry from the farmer. Whether he could have borne it or not is a subject of controversy. " The farm hand was, therefore, sacrificed on the altar of expediency, and the farmer's criticism of the low guaranteed price was largely silenced by the fixation of a very modest minimum wage for farm workers. "Farmers have congratulated themselves on the fact that their labour problems have been removed from the Arbitration Court. In negotiations with the Minister of Labour their representatives, as one of them stated, were met in a ' perfectly conciliatory manner.' The carrying out of the resulting agreement, however, raised several more problems. "Under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act the Government made provision for the formation of a union by any group of workers employed in an industry, and also set up the machinery for the fixing of a basic wage to apply to all workers covered by an industrial agreement of award.

" Yet farm workers, who are thus in theory free to form a union and seek an award, are subject to an agreement whereby they are employed without limitation of hours for a wage over £1 a week below that received by labourers whose hours are limited to 40 per week. ."In reply to criticism that the Agricultural Workers Bill had been passed without reference to the workers concerned, the Minister of Labour stated that the Government had conferred with the officials of the New Zealand Workers' Union, many of whom had experience of farming conditions. This union, which has become a powerful force since the election, is closely connected with the Labour Party.

" Meanwhile farm workers attempted to organise. One somewhat ambitious scheme, the New Zealand Rural Workers' Union, never reached the stage of applying for registration. Though many enrolled and subscribed as members nothing more has been heard since they were notified some months ago that the New Zealand Workers' Union would complete the organisation and register it if possible. " Of a different nature, however, was the Taupiri Farm Workers' Union. In this case, in spite of strong numerical support, registration was refused on the grounds that the New Zealand Workers' Union has certain provisions for farm workers. A like fate, it is feared, awaits any further application by farm workers for what under recent legislation is the right of any union of workers in an industry conducted for profit. "It seems that an attempt is being . made to include farm workers as a branch of the New Zealand Workers' Union—a course to which they are averse, and to which they oppose stubborn resistance. They claim the rights enjoyed by all other workers but denied to them, including the right to a separate union. "An instance of unequal treatment against which unorganised farm •workers are powerless to protest is provided by a recently-introduced ragwort scheme. Under this plan men employed 40 hours a week eradicating ragwort receive a subsidised wage amounting to £4 a week, as against £3 paid to the ordinary hand working unlimited hours on the same farm. "It is little wonder that farm workers take more remunerative and attractive jobs when they offer. Equal treatment of farm workers will attract men to the land, but as long as they are denied the ordinary privileges now accorded workers in industry the shortage of competent labour will continue."