The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-08-19
AIMS To AID WORKERS
Plan of Operations of the Eng
Iish Labor Exchanges.
SEND MEN WHERE NEEDED.

|
Labor Supply and the Demand.
Fares Paid to Distant Points-RuIes
For Applicants.
Nothing has occurred in the British
Industrial world in recent years which
has attracted more attention than the
Inauguration of the government labor
exchanges through an act of parlia-
ment passed last year, which has been
very generally approved. The royal
commission on the poor laws recon-
mended unanimously the establish
ment of these exchanges They are
not designed to furnish temporary aid
to the unemployed, but to direct labor
where 1t is needed. The central idea
is that the information of wants"
and wanted" shall be periodically
sent from branches to central offices
and thence transmitted to other locali-
ties. When necessary advances will be
made to pay fares of unemployed per-
sons to points where their labor Is
needed, such advances to be refunded
from wages.
On the opening day, Feb. l, nearly
eighty exchanges were in operation,
and thousands of applications for
work were received. These represent
ed all classes of labor and did not
seem to come to any considerable ex-
tent from the shiftless and incompe-
tent Employers also made use of the
exchanges.
The registration of applicants for
employment is to hold good for seven
days from the date of registration. The
officer in charge is to undertake no
responsibility with regard to wages or
other conditions beyond supplying any
rate Of wages desired or offered.
Copies or summaries Of any agree
ments mutually arranged between as
sociations of employers and workmen
for the regulation of wages or other
conditions Of labor In any trade may,
to such agreements, be filed at a labor
exchange, and any published rules
made by public authorities with regard
to like matters may also be filed. Doc
uments so filed are to be open to in
spection on application. No person is
to suffer any disqualification or be 9TH
erwise prejudiced on account Of refus-
ing to accept employment found for
! him through labor exchange where
the ground of refusal is that a trade
dispute which affects his trade exists
or that the wages offered are lower
than those current in the trade in the
district where employment is found.
When an applicant for employment
has been engaged through labor ex-
change at which he is registered to
take up employment at any place re-
moved from the exchange or from his
ordinary residence by more than five
miles by the quickest route or by such
other distance as the board of trade
may direct from time to time, either
generally or as regards any specified
district, the officer In charge may at
his discretion make an advance to the
applicant toward meeting the ex-
penses Of travelling to the place Of en-
ployment. The advance may be made
| at the request either of the employer
or of the applicant. The person at
whose request the advance Is made
must give such undertaking with re-
spect to the repayment Of the advance
as the board of trade with the consent
Of the treasury may from time to time
prescribe, either generally or as re-
| n icf, OF ri a nf
applicants In making advances care
| is to be taken to avoid unduly encour-
aging rural laborers to migrate from
the country to the towns or between
Great Britain and Ireland. The ad-
vance is not to exceed the amount re-
quired to defray the applicants fare
to the place Of employment and is to
be made by the provision of ticket
or pass or in exceptional cases in cash.
The question Of strikes and lockouts
was given very careful consideration
by the trainers Of the general regula-
| tons, and the following rules have
been adopted governing this matter
Any association Of employers or
workmen may file at labor exchange
q statement with regard TO the exist
ence of a strike or lockout affecting
their trade in the district. Any such
statement shall be signed by person
authorized by the association for the
purpose. Such statement shall only
be In force for seven days from the
date of filing, but may be renewed
within that period for a like period,
and so on from time to time. If any
employer who appears to be affected
by statement so filed notifies to a
labor exchange vacancy or vacancies
for workmen of the class affected, the
officer in charge shall inform him OF
| the statement that has been filed and
give him an opportunity of making a
written statement thereon The of
ficer in charge, in notifying any such
vacancies to any applicant for EN-
ployment, shall also inform him of the
statements that have been filed.
All of the expense is borne by the
government, a special appropriation
being set aside for the purpose.