(e) A learner shall cease to be a learner and be entitled to the full minimum time rate for a worker applicable to her under section 1 upon the fulfillment of the following conditions:

Age of entering upon employ

ment.

Under 15 years of age..

15 and under 16 years of age....

16 and under 21 years of age.... 21 years of age and over...

Conditions.

The completion of not less than 3 years' employment, and the attainment of the age of 18 years.

The completion of not less than 2 years' employment, and the attainment
of the age of 18 years.

The completion of 2 years' employment.
The completion of 1 year's employment.

(f) No female learner shall be held to be entitled to the full minimum rate under section 1 until she has attained the age of 18 years, notwithstanding any employment she may have had.

(g) Any female who has been previously employed in any branch of the trade as described in section 1 and has not held a certificate or certified copy certificate and is subsequently taken on as a learner shall count the whole period of such previous employment for the purpose of claiming the time rate at which she is to be paid, and shall have such period of employment entered upon her certificate or certified copy. SECTION 3. The above rates shall apply to all female workers as specified above who are employed during the whole or any part of their time in any branch of the readymade and wholesale bespoke tailoring trade which is engaged in making garments to be worn by male persons, but they shall not apply to any persons engaged merely as clerks, messengers, stockroom assistants, warehouse assistants, saleswomen, travelers, packers, parcelers, distributors, cleaners, or to any other persons whose work stands in a relationship to the trade similar to that of the foregoing excluded classes.

SECTION 4. A female learner is a worker who

(a) Is employed during the whole or a substantial part of her time in learning any branch or process of the trade by an employer who provides the learner with reasonable facilities for such learning; and

(b) Has received a certificate or certified copy certificate issued in accordance with rules from time to time laid down by the trade board and held subject to compliance with the conditions contained in this section, or has made an application therefor which has been duly acknowledged and is still under consideration. The trade board may, if any condition contained in this section is not in fact complied with, cancel the original certificate, whereupon any copy thereof shall become canceled. Notice of such cancellation shall forthwith be given to the learner and her employer.

Provided, That an employer may employ a female learner, on her first employment, in the branch or branches of the trade as above described, without a certificate for a probation period not exceeding four weeks, but in the event of such learner being continued thereafter at her employment the probation period shall be included in her period of learnership.

Provided, That notwithstanding compliance with the conditions contained in this section a person shall not be deemed to be a learner if she works in a room used for dwelling purposes and is not in the employment of her parent or guardian.

Minimum Time Rate for Male Workers.

SECTION A. The minimum (or lowest) time rates for male workers in those branches of the ready-made and wholesale bespoke tailoring trade in Great Britain which are engaged in making garments to be worn by male persons shall (subject to the provisions of this notice as to male learners) be as follows clear of all deductions: (1) For male workers other than home workers, 6d. (12.2 cents) an hour. (2) For male home workers, 6d. (12.2 cents) an hour.

Learners.

SECTION B. (1) In lieu of the above rates male “learners” (as hereinafter defined) shall receive the following minimum or lowest time rates clear of all deductions; that

is to say:

When employed under 15 years of age, 4s. 2d. ($1.01) a week.

When employed at 15 and under 16 years of age, 6s. 3d. ($1.52) a week. When employed at 16 and under 17 years of age, 8s. 4d. ($2.03) a week. When employed at 17 and under 18 years of age, 11s. 6d. ($2.80) a week. When employed at 18 and under 19 years of age, 14s. 7d. ($3.55) a week. When employed at 19 and under 20 years of age, 17s. 8d. ($4.30) a week. When employed at 20 and under 21 years of age, 19s. 10d. ($4.83) a week. When employed at 21 and under 22 years of age, 21s. 11d. ($5.33) a week. Learners commencing employment in the tailoring trade at and over the age of 19 may serve a period of six months at 15s. 8d. ($3.81) per week and thereafter a period of six months at 19s. 10d. ($4.83) per week. They shall then receive such rates as their age may entitle them to under the foregoing provisions.

(2) The learners' rates are weekly rates based on a week of 50 hours, but they shall be subject to a proportionate deduction or increase according as the number of hours actually spent by the learner in the factory or workshop in any week is less or more than 50.

SECTION C. The above rates shall apply to all male workers as specified above who are engaged during the whole or any part of their time in any branch of the ready-made and wholesale bespoke tailoring trade which is engaged in making garments to be worn by male persons; but they shall not apply to any persons engaged merely as clerks, messengers, stockroom assistants, warehouse assistants, salesmen, travelers, packers, parcelers, distributors, mechanics, engineers, carpenters, cleaners, and to others whose work stands in a relationship to the trade similar to that of the above-excluded classes. SECTION D. A male learner is a worker who

(1) Is employed during the whole or a substantial part of his time in learning any branch or process of the trade by an employer who provides the learner with reasonable facilities for such learning; and

(2) Has received a certificate or certified copy certificate issued in accordance with rules from time to time laid down by the trade board and held subject to compliance with the conditions contained in this section, or has made an application therefor which has been duly acknowledged and is still under consideration. The trade board may, if any condition contained in this section is not in fact complied with, cancel the original certificate, whereupon any copy thereof shall become canceled. Notice of such cancellation shall forthwith be given to the learner and his employer.

Provided, That an employer may employ a male learner on his first employment in the branch or branches of the trade as above described, without a certificate for a probation period not exceeding four weeks, but in the event of such learner being continued thereafter at his employment the probation period shall be included in his period of learnership.

Provided, That notwithstanding compliance with the conditions contained in this section a person shall not be deemed to be a learner if he works in a room used for dwelling purposes and is not in the employment of his parent or guardian.

In totaling up any reckonings, in the aggregate arrived at when paying the rates fixed hereunder, every fraction of a farthing shall count as a farthing.

The expression "home worker" shall be held to mean a worker who works in his or her own home or in any other place not under the control or management of the employer.

TRADE BOARDS IN GERMANY.

The impression that wage boards had been established by law in Germany would appear to be based upon the fact that under the home workers' law of December 20, 1911, also sometimes called the sweatshop law, provision is made for the establishment by the Federal Council of so-called trade boards (Fachausschüsse) for certain branches of industry and certain localities in which home workers are employed. If the use of this term suggests any powers and duties similar to those imposed by law upon the British trade boards, the term is entirely misleading, for the German trade boards appear to be strictly limited to investigatorial and educative work and to have absolutely no powers of enforcing any suggestion.

The boards, where established under the Federal authority, are to report on the industrial and economic conditions prevalent in their respective trades and districts. On the request of the State and communal authorities they are to give opinions on (1) the execution of the law, and (2) the interpretation of agreements and existing usages for the fulfillment of obligations between employers and home workers. The trade boards must also consider suggestions as to the conditions in their respective trades and districts, encourage plans for improving such conditions, collect information as to the earnings of home workers, render opinions and make suggestions as to the adequacy of such earnings, and encourage the formation of collective agreements.

The boards are to consist of an equal number of representatives of the employers and home workers concerned, together with a chairman and two associates. The chairman must be neither an industrial employer nor a home worker, and both he and the associates must possess technical knowledge of the trade. If women are largely employed as home workers, they must be proportionately represented on the board. The State central authorities decide the number of representatives. They also appoint the chairman, the associates, and, after a hearing of the employers and home workers, one-half of their representatives. The remaining half are chosen by a majority vote of these appointed representatives. Additional regulations as to the establishment and composition of the trade boards may be issued by the Federal Council. The costs of the trade boards must be provided for by the Federal States in whose territory they are created.

184

MINIMUM WAGE FOR FEMALE WORKERS IN FRANCE.1

The French Chamber of Deputies at its session of November 13, 1913, passed a bill relating to a compulsory minimum wage for female home workers of the clothing industry. This bill proposes to introduce for the first time into French legislation the principle of a minimum wage and enlarges in a noteworthy manner the rights of trade

unions.

The most important provisions of the law are the following:

The law is applicable to all female home workers on clothing, including hats, shoes, lingerie, embroideries, laces, plumes, and artificial flowers.

Each manufacturer, jobber, and middleman who gives out such labor for home work must keep a register containing the names and addresses of all female workers employed. He must post the piece prices in the waiting rooms as well as in the rooms in which the raw material is handed out and the finished goods are received.

Each female worker is to be furnished with a tablet or book on or in which is to be entered the nature and quantity of the work, the date, and the piece price. This price may not be lower than the one posted. At the delivery of the goods there are to be entered the date, the wages, and the costs borne by the worker. These entries are to be made in duplicate.

The piece prices are to be computed in such a manner that a worker of average ability may earn in 10 hours a wage equal to a minimum determined upon for the occupation and locality by the labor councilors, or, in their absence, by the industrial courts.

The labor councilors or the industrial courts shall determine this minimum wage in such a manner that it shall in no instance be less than two-thirds of the usual local wage paid for the same occupation to female workers employed in shops. In localities where home work exists exclusively, the wage received by female day laborers or that of female workers employed at the same occupation in other comparable localities shall be taken as a basis. The minimum wage determined upon in this manner shall serve as a basis for judgments by the industrial courts in wage disputes submitted to them. The labor council shall revise the minimum wage at least every three years. The labor councilors may compile wage tables for the various kinds of piecework. These tables are, however, not binding on the indus

"

1 Arbeiter-Zeitung of Vienna, Nov. 21, 1913.

trial courts in the same manner as the minimum wage.

Representatives of the employers and workmen are to be called in at the determination of the minimum wage by the industrial court. The justice of the peace shall act as chairman.

The labor councilors and the industrial courts shall publish the minimum wages and wage tables determined upon. If the Government, a trade-union, or a person interested in the trade, appeals within three months against the determination, a central commission in the department of labor, to which shall belong two members of the labor council or industrial court which made the appealed determination, two judges of industrial courts elected for three years of both these bodies a representative of the employers and of the workmen and a member of the supreme court as president, shall have final jurisdiction. The minimum wage becomes compulsory three months after its publication or after the decision of the central commission.

The industrial courts shall be competent to decide all disputes arising under this law. The difference between the wages paid and the wages owed to the female worker on the basis of the minimum wage must be paid to her without prejudice to damages which the employer may be adjudged to pay. Each manufacturer, jobber, and middleman is liable for nonpayment by his own fault of the minimum wage. Associations authorized by decree of the department of labor, and trade-unions of the clothing industry existing in a district, even if composed entirely or in part of shop workers, may bring civil suit for noncompliance with the present law without having to prove any damage.

In case male workmen of the clothing industry who perform at home the same work as female workers receive a lower wage than the minimum determined upon for the matter, they may request that the industrial court establish the same minimum for them as for the female workers.

After a hearing of the supreme advisory labor council the above provisions may by administrative order also be extended to other trades.