LABOR NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2610, 18 September 1909, Page 2

LABOR NOTES.

ITEMS OF INTEREST, (By Unionist.) The proposed Auckland co-operative unionists’ society has advanced another stage, and at the last meeting the rules were confirmed, and the secretary, Mr. J. E. Brittain, was instructed to have the society registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1908. The name under which the society will be known is the Auckland Unionists’ Cooperative Distribution Society, Limited. There are six unions connected with the New Zealand slaughtering industry. For some time past negotiations have been in progress for a federation of all the unions. The negotiations are now complete, and an association called the New Zealand Slaughtermen’s Association has been registered. The executive of the new organisation will be located in Wellington till next year. The Melbourne Typographical Society intend to appoint an organiser at a salary of £2OO a year, with travelling and incidental expenses. We speak of hard times m Gisborne, and there is no question that the cost of living has been a source of anxiety to most of But we can take comfort from the fact that wo have not experienced anything li'ke the hardships inflicted on humanity in other parts. For instance, in Sydney recently a delegate reported to the Eight-hour Committee that 150 children in a suburb of that city were bootless, and had to walk through rain and mud in that condition. The Committee subscribed £lO 8s at the meeting when the matter was mentioned, and with additional assistance from a well-known Sydney merchant. boots, stockings, and pants were provided for the children. The Shop Assistants’ Association of West Australia is again moving for the re-introduction of the Saturday •half-holiday.. A petition in favor of the Saturday has been signed by about two thousand assistants in Perth and Freemantle, and the Premier of the State is to be asked to introduce legislation in favor of the petitioners during the coming session. The Bread-carriers’ Wages Board has made an award fixing the working conditions for all bread-carriers in Sydney. The aw r ard provides for a 48-hour ordinary working week, and limits the maximum amount of overtime allowed to six hours. The lowest rate of wages provided is 45s per week. Preference to members of the union is granted. Chemists’ assistants in Sydney are the latest class of workers to apply for regulated conditions of labor. They are asking £3 a week for junior and £4 a week for senior assistants. The dispute is now being heard by the Wages Board set up for the purpose. The spectacle of a woman breaking metal on the roadside may be observed at Doncaster (Victoria). It is stated that during the last month the woman has been working assiduously with her husband in all weathers. Workers in the furniture trade in Brisbane have been awarded a 44-hours week, at wages ranging from £2 7s 6d to £3 a week for competent journeymen. . . , , -j “The rail-sitter is now dead wood in the Parliaments of Australia,” cays a Labor exchange. New Zealand unions subscribed a total of £94 4s towards the strike fund of the Broken Hill combined unions. The New York Senate has decide# by 38 votes to three that women teachers shall receive the same pay as men when they do the same work. Changes in the rates of wages taking effect in Great Britain in May affected 16,800 workpeople, of whom 2800 received advances, and 14,000 sustained decreases. The Melbourne Eight-hour Committee, after the payment of all debts, had a credit balance of over £ISOO to hand over to charities from the proceeds of the last demonstration. The profits from the Nottingham municipal gas supply have enabled the corporation to acquire at Bulwell Hall one of the finest recreation grounds in England. . In the Australian political arena there exist three distinct parties: (1) The Individualistic party, (2) the Revolutionary Socialists or International Socialists, (3) the Evolutionary Socialists or Labor party.—Dr. Jansen (the Rising Tide). In France there is a law on the employment of Avomen, girls, and children in industrial undertakings, which provides that wherever it appears advisable to prohibit, the employment of such persons in certain kinds of work, involving danger to health or morals, or the overtaxing of their strength, such prohibition can be ordered by presidential decree..

Girls employed in some Melbourne restaurants are kept working. from 87 to 90 hours a week for the miserable pittance of from 8s to 10s per week. Krupp’s—the great steel firm —has built cottages and flats for 30,000 of its work people. No German town is 'without a generous .area of open spaces close to its population.—“ Collier’s Weekly.” Labor Selection ballots, to decide on the Labor candidates for the next Federal elections, are proceeding apace throughout the Commonwealth. In most cases the sitting members, all of whom submitted to the plebiscite, are being again selected. Mr. J. E. West has again been chosen to oppose Mr. G. Reid for Sydney East, and after considerable friction, Mr. F. Riley won the plebiscite of South Sydney, now represented by Mr. J. C. Watson. In three of the States all the retiring Senators are Labor men, and all but Senator Croft, of West Australia, have been chosen to stand for the Senate again next year. An agreement has been entered into by the Avharf laborers at Bunbury, W.est Australia, and the employers concerned as to rates of pay, hours of labor, etc. It is provided that for all classes of labor the ordinary Avorking hours shall be from 8 a .in. to 5 p.m. (exclush'e of meal hour from 12 noon to 1 p.m.), except on Saturdays, when they shall be from 8 a.m. to noon. The rates for timber, general cargo, and explosives; shall be: Ordinary time Is 3d, overtime 2s, midnight to 7 a.m. 2s, Sundays and holidays 3s per hour.