STUDENTS TAKE PLACES OF WORKERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18015, 27 November 1926, Page 10

STUDENTS TAKE PLACES OF WORKERS.

DIFFICULTIES ARISE IN ENGINEERING TRADE. During the vacations of the Canterbury College School of Engineering a large number of the obtain employment with engineering firms and local bodies throughout the Dominion for the purpose of gaining practical experience of various branches of the profession. The students are exempt from the provisions of the Arbitration Court awards and are generally paid a wage commensurate with the value of the services they render, taking into consideration the fact that they are engaged more in the capacity of apprentices than as journeymen workers. In the great majority of cases the employment of the students does not interfere with that of the workers engaged in the industry, but there have been occasional instances reported to the Amalgamated Engineering Association of men being dismissed and their places filled by students. In November, 1923, the Christchurch branch of the association protested to the Minister of Labour against the dismissal of married men, and it is stated that investigation by the Labour Department’s officers substantiated the claim and protest. The matter has again been the subject of action by the workers and Mr G. T. Thurston, secretary of the association, has written to the Minister of Labour bringing under hi 3 notice the fact that married tradesmen were being discharged and students from the engineering colleges employed in their stead. ‘ The letter states that the association has received first hand information to the effect that two of its members working for the Dunedin City Council had received their dismissal notices and students had been engaged to fill the positions. The letter goes on to state that while there had been no dismissals in Christchurch on this occasion, the same Christchurch firm that committed a similar offence in 1923 to that committed by the Dunedin City Council, had in its employ at the present time twelve students, and it could not therefore be denied that the employ- | ment of such a number had debarred I some men from securing employment i who had no doubt been unemployed | for some time, as the trade had been extremely quiet. | The association, after quoting the Minister’s reply to its protest in 1923, expresses the hope that he will exercise his power where cases of abuse occur.