Show hl for k culip union uni on workers work aers ITS aaa oa important happenings in E industrial circles in this country and europe Christ lania nor ay A number of reports upon various phases of nor beglan governmental activity designed to benefit the people have been published in daily consular and trade reports among these were reports upon the bolig dwellings bank through which the government makes liberal low rate loans to the working people tor for building homes the municipal employment bureau conducted by the city government in the interest ot of both workmen and employers of la hor government aid to the dairying industry and some others just now the government in operation cooperation with the city authorities Is establishing in stavanger Sta vanger a domestic science school intended to afford a complete course in housekeeping to young girls oyer over sixteen years of age vienna austria the metal nork I 1 ers era union in austria has issued a report on the activity of the union since its commencement in the three years from 1908 to 1910 it appears that workmen 25 per cent fought out their movements with complete success 70 per cent were partially successful and 12 11 5 per cent were beat en in these three years the union spent for strike support im prove menta ments in wages and reductions of hours were secured but the effect of the increase of wages is more than wiped out by the rapid increase in the cost ot of living washington seventy das days was set la As the limit tor for the taking of testimony n the contempt cases pending before justice wright in the district supreme court against president samuel gompers vice president john mitchell and secretary frank morrison Morr lson of the american rede federation ration of labor the prosecuting hae 30 days in which to take evidence against the labor leaders the defendants will have a like time to offer their defense and then the prosecution will have ten days for rebuttal testimony it Is probable that a decision 1 in the case will not be handed down until some time next spring chicago B J mcmahon represent ine the glass bottle blowers asior lion tion asked the assistance of the chi cago federation ot or labor in procuring the passage of an amendment to the city ordinance dealing with ith the size of milk bottles under the present law one company Is given a monopoly of the sale of milk bottles in chicago because it controls the patent under which they ate are made hundreds of glass bottle blowers have been thrown out of work manchester england the dock laborers union held a meeting recently and passed a resolution beclar ing that alter after january 1 next they would refuge refuse to work with laborers who had not the national transport federation a ticket the union bials in manchester say there Is no doubt that the resolution will be car ried into effect at the new year but they da do not anticipate any difficulty will arise berlin germany A conference was held recently by the employers in the cloak and suit butt making and chil drens clothing trades in berlin who met the representatives of the fifty thousand female home workers and three thousand tailor intermediaries who have been on strike since no vember 23 it Is stated that there Is a prospect of settlement london england the labor association now embraces ill societies in great britain the capital of these workmen a s societies approximates 10 and their trade amount to nearly 22 per annum the last return shows that was divided among the work ers era as their share of the profits birmingham eng at the binning ham quarterly iron and steel meeting the market was pronounced the beet best within the last three years and an optimistic ti feeling generally prevailed many manufactures are refusing or ders and others report themselves very busy while no one complains of lack of orders washington wages paid to wo men in the laundries la in russia are from 4 to 8 a month with room and board included but the living are arin in the cellar and the food of the coarsest kind mechanics in these laundries command under the same conditions about 70 cents a day pittsburg pa more than 3 was spent in the last two years by the united mine workers of america to keep men in idleness nova scotia received the largest amount of the strike benefits the total reaching well over 1 1000 milwaukee when M zahn bus ness manager of the milwaukee wool wire and metal lather a union began to learn the trade wages were 20 cents an hour with unlimited hours I 1 have sein seen the wages increase year by year be he says and today they have reached 60 50 to 56 6 cents an hour with an eight hour workday paris parts france A bill under consid aeration by the french government au an th thorl orizes zes an advance of public funds lor for the establishment of local butcher and bake shops in cities in the proportion ot of one to every 5 inhabit tants stockholm sweden the lockout in the building trades of sweden has come to an end the victory in the main being with the men the new agreements are to run for f five he years ln in that respect the men have lost but the wage rates are not to be the old ones or even reduced ones one as the employers intended the wages are to be increased slightly from cent to 3 cents an hour with a further increase of cent from april 1 1914 the nine hour day is to be main talked where the rule obtains now and the agreement Is not to end on december 31 as the employers wish ed in the middle of the winter when building activities are at a stand still but on margh 31 cincinnati the majority report of a board of arbitration appointed to ad just the differences beewen the cincin nati natt hamilton dayton railroad and its employed emp loyes favors the employed emp loyes and grants them increases in wages sec see tion foremen earning less than 55 a month will get an increase of 2 50 a month section laborers receiving less than 15 cents an hour get an increase of half a cent an hour and bumpers will receive a five per cent raise P M morrissey the third member of the board dissented to the findings con tending that the proposed rates did not parallel the rates paid tor for the same work on og other railroads harrisburg III organized labor of saline county has bought the harris burg chronicle one of the oldest and foremost republican papers of south ern illinois the paper will be op crated by the harrisburg trades and labor assembly the plant la Is one of the finest in southern illinois each union laborer will be assessed one dollar to help pay the 6 feces sary saxy to obtain possession of the publication li the purchase of the paper Is said to have grown out of the opposition of the press to the 1910 coal strike brooklyn N Y As a result of the agitation carried on by the retail clothing salesmen Sales mens s union it has se ceedee in forming a branch of sales men employed in brooklyn stores twenty six retail clothing merchants in the eastern section of 0 Dro brooklyn oklyn have signed agreements with th the in un ion recognizing it and granting the men a six day work week instead of seven days as they were compelled to work previous to the formation of the union melbourne opinion amongst aus trade unionists Is still very much divided as to which Is the best tribunal to adjust industrial condi condl eions a an arbitration court presided over by a judge and able to leg isgate as to hours wages etc or b a wages board for each industry composed of an equal number players and employed emp loyes and an 0 outside 1 d aside chairman washington railway systems with a mileage aggregate of 47 have increased the wages of employed emp loyes dur ing the past year 4 87 per cent over 1910 the total amount of this in crease means that there will have been put into the pockets of the he em cloes at the close of 1911 the sum of 14 more than was received for the same service in 1910 cincinnati cincinnati has recently opened a municipal domestic laundry where poor women of the tenement dis brict may take the family clothing and do their own washing with the aid of the most up to date machinery thus all the modern laundry mechanisms are brought within reach of the poor est families pittsburg pa throughout greater pittsburg there la is alln atmosphere denoting a return of industrial activity hundreds of skilled mechanics as well as laborers many of whom have been idle all or part ot of the time are now steadily employed and the ranks of the employed are dally daily being added to milwaukee the milwaukee cigar makers union has proposed an amend ment to the international constitution providing that on and after may 1912 there shall be no more open shops un der the jurisdiction of the interns Cigar makers union washington in porto rico awen tytko ty two new local unions affiliated with the american federation of labor have been organized in the last year while several which had been tern tem por arlly artly suspended were reinstalled in the federation boston the laborers pension act which boston will put into operation march 1 1912 Is the first instance of a municipality in america providing retirement with half pay to its la borers berlin germany the city councils of nuremberg and fuerth are buying potatoes by the car load and retailing them to the people in 60 50 and pound lots at cost the price at which the last lot was distributed in aurem berg being 85 cents per pounds the councils of hundreds of cities all over germany are doing the same new york organized for the pur pose of reducing the price of food prod acts to the consumer and of increase ing the profits of the retail grocer the national retail grocers operative cooperative co association inc opened its offices last week |