University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1914-04-26


A hair-dresser in Australia is barber.
This barber, perched comfortably in
a red-plush chair (made in st. Louis)
continued: You use your spare time
in making more money and we use
our spare time in enjoying life. l do
not make as much money in week
as | did when l lived in London-Im
a Cockney, not a Colonial-but | work
fewer hours. | make more per hour.
but less per week. l have time OF my
own in which l may enjoy myself.
Why, during ten years | was at work
in London shop | never saw a cricket
game, Here we work only eight hours
a day and the shop closes at one
O'Clock on Saturday afternoon and re-
mains closed until Monday morning.
If an employe works his men overtime
he is fined S. for each offense. We
have no overtime i'm consequence. The
trades union has brought this about.
Our union is registered under the law.
Our wages are fixed, not by the en-
ployer, but by a court of arbitration
which fixes also hours of labor and
conditions under which we work. The
minimum wage for hair-dressers, be-
low which no employer can go and
no employe can accept employment, is
s14 a week of As hours
This is the case for labor. The state,
not the individual. determines the min
imum wage and the working cOndi-
tions. The result is, as a rule, i'm
proved conditions for the working
man. Strikes have not been abolished
nor has industrial strife ceased, but
the immediate effect of the laws made
i'm the land where labor rules has been
unquestionably the betterment of the
material circumstances of the worker.
There is another side to the shield
but for the present-and from the
employees ndpoint-Australia is "a
workingman's paradise"
The Coblenz. steamer of the North
German Lloyd line, arrived at Brisbane
at five o'clock in the afternoon. The
wharf-laborers were on a strike-"a
lazy strike" it was called-against
working overtime except at prohibitive
prices. They would not go to work
until eight the next morning. Hence
days delay for the Coblenz and the
interview with the secretary of the
hair-dressers' union.
/ collective bargaining" is the phrase
used to describe the proceedings un-
der which industrial organizations
seek desired wages. Trades union
came first and following upon trades
unionism, other industrial Organiza-
tions and their entrance into politics
AS a result of the great strikes in the
maritime, sheep-shearing and mining
industries in 1S9O-1S92 a Labor party
! was formed which has been dominant
in Australia since 1904 except for oc-
casional periods when the Liberal par
ty, largely tinctured with Labor views
held sway. During the last twenty
years the most advanced Legislation
has been enacted in the several states
and by the Federal Parliament.
Work As Hours q Week.
A week of As hours is the usua
working week. though this is frequent
ly reduced, by Saturday half-holiday
to A hours. The larger trades unions
however, have lately moved for and il
many cases obtained net day of eigh
hours, with Saturday half-holiday, NJ
loading of the other week days beins
permitted by way of cOmpensating FOL
the Saturday afternoon. Under thi'
plan there are, for five days, equa
divisions for periods of labor, recre
alton and rest and four hours work ol
Saturday, making working week
A hours. For linotype operators ant
in some other technical callings tn
working week has been fixed at a
hours. The closing time of shops 70
stores) is fixed at 6 p. m. on four day
in each week, 9 p. m. or 10 p. m. ol
one day, and l p. m. on one day. Sun
day is an absolute holiday. Measure
for the protection of the life, healtl
and general well-being of the worke
and for compensation for injuries ex
list not unlike those existing in mos
!, of the American states. The mos
striking difference is as to legislativ
regulation of wages and terms of con
tract.
Two systems, based upon somewha
different principles, have existed i
8 Australia for the regulation of wage
and general terms of contracts an
employment. the Wages Board and tn
Industrial Arbitration Court. In tn
more recent legislation in the severa
: states both systems are embodied. Tn
3 Arbitration Court of the Common
!. wealth has power to review decision
:. in matters of interstate concern. Tn