Montana labor news., 1937-03-25
OF The
SENATE FROM A
LABOR STANDPOINT
Continued from Page y

was Senate Bill No. 70. This was
introduced by the committee on
compensation and raised the age OF
minor dependents and beneficiaries
from eighteen to twenty-one and
permitted them to draw compensa-
ton under conditions which were not
heretofore permitted upon the death
of the father or the death Of the
mother when she was entitled to
| compensation.
One of the most important laoor
| bills was the Teachers Retirement
Law. House Bill No. IA, which was
passed and provided for a pension
for teachers over thirty-five years of
age with an appropriation of SIS
10000 which was granted out Of the
| funds from the sales made by the
retail liquor stores of Montana. Much
| credit is due for the passage of this
bill to the representatives of the
teachers who spent their time in
Helena and worked so hard for its
passage.
Another bill of particular interest
to the members of labor throughout
| the state was the amendment to the
Social Security Bill. House Bill No.
226 killed the amendment which
would have taxed the employee | per
cent of his salary up to 100000.
The writer made the objections for
labor to this bill.
For years in compensation cases
labor has advocated a law which will
grant to the injured employe his
compensation without payment of
excessive attorney fees. This session
at the request of labor passed a bill
which permitted the Industrial Acct
dent Board to fix the fee in any
case that came before it. 1t also
granted the Board the right to make
investigations out of the State OF
Montana and to grant hearings be-
fore some attorney selected in diff
ferent communities in order that the
application if contested may be heard
in a much shorter period of time
than is possible under the present
setup because of the large amount
of work upon the part of the In
dustrial Accident Board and its re-
quirement that these cases must be
heard in different parts of the state
House Bill No. 104 pertaining tc
sanitary regulations in barber shops
and requiring barber shops to be
segregated from other places Of
business, after a hard fight in which
the author was active, was finally
passed.
Two bills were introduced for the
purpose of creating the department.
of labor. One was in the nature o.
a constitutional amendment and the
Fother was a House bill creating thi,
department. Both of these bills were
killed by three votes in the Senate
Their Importance was manifested by
|. the fact that up to two years age
labor had no representative in the
state to investigate complaints
Through the action of MI. Graham
and the labor organizations, a repre-
sentative of labor was added to thi
, department. 1t has been very sue
cessful and has resulted in labo
laws being enforced and the lahore
receiving greater consideration. La
Dor is entitled to this particular de
partment in order that the laws ma,
be entirely enforced and the EN-
ployes given greater consideration
/ 1t is hoped that the constitutions
amendment at least will be approve
and the bill enacted at some futur
session.
House Bill No. ISL granted to tn
fireman in cities of first and secon
: class a minimum wage of $4,000 pc
\ month.
House Bill No. 1853, while nc
technically a labor bill, levied a ia
for old age assistance which granite
to those who had given the best par
of their life in Montana to industry
a pension afte rarriving at the ag
provided in this law.
Another important bill was thu
which gave the City Council author
ity to regulate hours of work on tn
fire department and creating tn
eight hour day for members of TIL
J fire department.