the second of the series of three articles dealing with the activities of the Shanghai Municipal Council Industrial Section, the first of which appeared last issue of this journal.
The report deals with the various systems of employment, including contract labour, apprenticeship ete., and the abuses practiced. It also goes into the question of industrial accidents and the question of compensation.
Lengthy reference is made in the! scale Industry employing young boy report to Systems of Employment.
Tabour.there exists a system of s0- Dealing with Contract Labour, it is called "apprenticeship which is, in pointed out that It has long been effect, unpaid child labour, Here Jmown that there existed in Shang-again' a middleman often profits: he hat "industrial enterprises certain will Induce the parents, of a child in systems of employment. which cannot the country to permit him to find be regarded as complying with ae.
Jemployment for the child in the city, ceptable standards. The custom of fand an employer in need of assist= hiting labour through a compradore, ance will remunerate the entreprefor contractor, In some cases. to the nour: "The child henceforth is at the extent of paying the compradore on disposal of the factory owner, and the basis of amount of foods pro-some of the results of confined em-duced, and otherwise taking no re~ ployment are long hours.of work, sponsibility for employment Inadequate food, and fatigue which Workers, has existed in some foreign arises from bad sleeping accommoda-Undertakings, "In others, both foreign tion. and Chinese, though employment, is The Engineering Society of China, "direct", and wages are paid by the {in its: eoncern for the raising of the mill authorities to the worker, it does standards of workmanship in eng-not follow that these wages are in-neering and allied trades, undertook deed the property of the. worker, 1997 an examination of the whole many' eases the worker lb under question of apprenticeship jas existing contract to-a cub-contractor, who has China and present practice abroad. paid a lump sum fo the family of the Tt is expected that the report when. Worker and is entitled to all earnings issued will form a most useful do-Quring a period of contract, usually cement designed to promote the at-three years, The fact that the work. fainment of genuine skills, through ers ave for the most part" young] jedequate training both practical and women, and that they-are usually in theoretical, At the same time a clear the control of men contractors, is an line of demarcation should be drawn unwelcome aspect of the situation between bona fide apprentices who, because they are being taught skills, Direct Employment are rightly not in receipt of wages, 'The action, of one of the foremost and those who, contributing to. the British undertakings in. changing' the Production of goods, are entitled to former aystem of employment payment for services. 'The Chinese freet employment' Is one of the Government Factory" Act contains Signidcant, happenings of the.year clauses which apply to "hsueh tu" Under reports In the Spring' the apprentices, but there is no definition Initial effort was made in the smallest of the trades to which apprentices: of the three mills of the company, may be put. The term used is a Gnd was eecompanied by two strikes teneral one covering the young per-'The company persisted, however, and son. learning crafts, the boys who was fully" steeossfd in. replacing Work in a shop or laundry, and those ihe, former aystem-by one in. which who are employed under contract at a "abou manager, an "employee, purely repetitive processes in small fne company, took charge of employ-factories. The law should refuse to out matters. The hostilities, which recognise contracts which bind young Interrupted the activities of the 7e-workers to employers to. the one-maining two mills of. the. company sided advantage of the latter, except for several months, made the occasion eases of bona fide apprenticeships. {or 0 similar. change in these enter-'The problem is a complex one. But prises." By. advertisement ta the would appear that it should be Chinese, fess on November: 1, the possible to find in so large a city as company" made public, its." new Shanghai suMlelent young labour for the tasks to be performed by it, "There remains for owners of mills without the importation from the to take steps to. see that, n 80 far country of Inds who become the v they are. able to control the tual slaves of employers. The boy Sttuation, they do not employ in their Worker who returns home each night Undertakings workers who are in the and has the advantage of outside control of middlemen and who do contacts, is less easily exploitable. for have the spending of their eara-Ings."When, as ts frequently the ease, Compensation In Accidents workers come from. provincial The question of compensation Ustriety ft is obvious that the. pro-fatal accident cases is dealt with.at fern of their housing is one. which some length. An appointment, in signineant. In. some Chinese en-uly, 1937, by the Shanghai Communterprises the dormitory "system ity Church of a Chinese woman as already in operation, in which. the hospital ease worker, with respon-company hdases workers. The drawsibility for. following up industrial fads to this are obvious, "Where the accident cases and assisting in their whole lite of the worker is Rived on rehabilitation formed an important the precincts of the employer there forward step. Her work aimed to tun "be: Life freedom, physical oF have injured workers understand Stheewise,. The provision of housing their rights, the families of deceased bya contractor has been, ull now, workers learn of theirs, and the the alternative. his hes, f anything, owners. of industrial undertakings wworgo features, especially" in that Kxnow of their responsibilities. Un~ Workers hand' over. their wages 16 fortunately hostilities precluded a ihe contractors during the period of continuance of these services, which the' contract, and must content ghen= itis hoped can later become avall-Selves with' the. most' miserable acable. It is fortunate thay the prac-Commodation and food, "in the view tice of making a grant has predisor the International Labour Organiza. posed factory owners to a receptive tion which has studied systems "of mind on this issue. But a new ecrulled about in. many" parts of concept is necessary: payments of the world, the solution to, the. Drothis nature are not ex gratia, "com-biomes in the provision by ecogpassionate" grants, 9s locally termed:
ised social agencies, and with the they represent the legal rights of the Approval of the authorities, Of hostel individuals concerned.
oF mousing accommodation. suitable This section of the report concludes:
for the group concerned with a reference to two compensation Uraes Necessity of Provid
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.