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Show I fLABOR NEWS OF I I ALL COUNTRIES I I' . If .Five Million Women Are Wage-Earners in the United States, Which H kJ Is Only Half the Number of Women Employed in Germany I S?Hl' ' Pittsburg Fire Fighters Are to Receive More Pay H a- California Allows Only Six Days a Week Work. I xf Bill posters have advanced wages H . p flfly cents per day at Savannah, Ga. H Sixty per cent of the adult work- I erg of Great Britain receive less than I h $7.50 per weekly wages. I Tl The Amalgamated Lace Curtain I Operatives of America will hold their I annual convention at New York, y May 2. H The first women's strike In America " r was that of textile workers at -Dover, f X H , in 1S28. I Preliminary plnns have been per- I p fected for the erection, of a labor tem- fe .pie In Fresno, Cal. I tl Tlie appointment of a permanent in- If dustrlal commission Is being consid- ff cied by the Canadian Ministers of r Labor I In this country more than 5.000.000 I I women are gaining a livelihood as I n wace-earners. I i Recent statistics show that there MM are now 9,500,000 wage earning women HH 1 in Germany, an increase of 57 per 31 cent during the last twelve years. jfc ij The Canadian Federal Labor Con- if ciliation Act maj- be broadened to in-i in-i " chide all kinds of industrial disputes. J At present it applies to public ser-h ser-h vices. 1 ' Returns to the Canadian Depart--J ment of Labor show that the cost of -3 living in February was higher even ?&JH . than In January, which had been given ' vjsj the record. '2H The Women's Trades Union . jgfl ' League, of New York, announces that ,- it has appointed a committee to con-$:WmY con-$:WmY sider the advisability of a state-wide fHj campaign in favor of a 54-hour work-H work-H ing week for women ml Pittsburg's Are il?htcrs, who are Ij the poorest paid of any largo cltv in I the United. States, will get an in- S crease of 510 a month as a result of faB the new budget adopted by the city BB council. ndsl Secretary Bernard Larger, of thp ,aJ American organization, asserts thai IIIB 250,000 clothing workers in the coun- BR try are now being organized in prepa- jHr latlon for demands this summer. Hf In 1S3-I when the girls of Lowell, SHn Mass., went on strike, they had al- SiByif ready formed n union, and we also jlff heaiof the Factory Girls' association QMf of 2,300 members at this time. CfeJ Milwaukee,, Wis., Bricldayers' and 'SMS Masons' Union has sent notices to 5Sp architects that after May 1 inspectors ?2iiH on all buildings under construction Sjjf must be practical bricklayers and His I masons and members of the union. m Plumbers of Fort Worth, Tex., se- Wqj cured an advance of 50 cents per day ( this year and will hae another 50 S cents Increase the two years follow- iug, this including every shop in the lut cit-v ritS The annual meeting of the south- 553 crn conference on woman and child eBJl' labor will convene at Chattanooga, oSjiff. the fourth Tuesday in April. Reports iaf already received Indicate the largest I gathering in the history of this as- ?h3 sociatlon, and recent events promise fin more results than hav yet been 11? achieved In this work, ffij. The London. Eng., Trades Council H Is prganizing a great demonstration, , ' with a view of a revival, in London 5 , and the country of agitation for a -it local eight-hour, day, or forty-eight Ihom week. The first Sunday In May I wJU probably be selected for the first demonstration, a series of demonstra- tions being under consideration. I There wero twelve strikes In cx- y Istencc In Canada during February, Ij? affecting about fifty firms and 1,200 r employed. The loss of time in work- ij'l ing days was approximately 10,000, W compared with 12,000 days lost from ijj the same cause during January, and iw i over 32,000 days lost In.. Februarv, 10H. The Amalgamated Woodworkers, !? Union recently united with the Broth-& Broth-& ' crhood of Carpenters, has paid mil-ig mil-ig lions In benefits. Accident benefits Pj aro paid bv this society. They run ' from ?350 to ?700 for total dlBablllty. Sg Any member reaching the age of ig , sixty Is entitled to an old ago pen-a pen-a sion of 52.S0 nor week. This must K be iaid him whether he Is able to P I work or not. ?L In Australia, the New South Wales isi" labor goernment, In defiance of the 'Kgi trades hall, whence it draws the bulk flgl of Its support, has decided to Import 2.000 laborers from Britain, mostly 1 navUca and bridge carpenters, who fill are wantcd ln pursuance of the Gov. ,, ernment's active pollcv on 'public works ( Tho Commercial Telegraphers' Union Un-ion of America is sending broadcast a set of resolutions in support of the public ownership of telegraph lines. It will he remembered that the Post- -master-General has recommended thnt the government purchase the telegraph tele-graph linos and a bill has been in- I troduced ia Congress to carry out that I purpose. ! The Socialist party of South San Francisco has adopted resolutions re-questing re-questing the Stnte Executive Board of, the Socialist party of California to circulate a petition through the ' suite for slguatnrcs, to initiate a law ' for the purpose of abolishing all pri- J vately owned employment agencies and the establishment of free slate employment bureaus in lieu thereof. ' In Canada the present hours of em- ployment for undergrqund men are ' nine hours and the union scale of ' wages for those is ?. 50 for machine 1 men and timbermen. $3.00 for machine helpers and ?2.75 for cage or bucket- ers and other underground labor. The ! ! managers intend to oppose the enforc-ing enforc-ing of an eight-hour day as this lf would , necessitate a corresponding I cut In wages. ' Reports as to conditions in the coa' mines of the United States for the ' ? five vears preceding the first of the current year shows that in the bitum- ' c Inous mines there were 2.S70 fatal ac- 1 c cidents. leaving 1,500 widows and ' c 3,122 orphans, and that in the a--thracito coal fields there were 3.1S2 ' fatal accidents, lealng 1.7C1 widows a and -1,124 orphans, making a total dur- c ing that period of 3.2G1 widows and l 7,2-1 C orphans. 1 Hamilton. Can . TradeB and Labor I Council will co-o,)erate with the Independent In-dependent Labor Party In asking the courts whother manufacturers have a right to blacklist employes who leave. Tho commission provided for by th.e last legislature to Investigate in dustrlal accidents and draft a bill to provide a workingmen's compensation law for Pennsylvania, has taken up Its work. The federated shop trades on tho Southern railway and allied lines have concluded to make an effort to establish es-tablish the eight-hour day upon the expiration of the present agreement The Women Clerks' Trade Union of Berlin, Germany, which has worked lor years for Inclusion in the imperial system of pensions and insuranceshas lately received assurance that the are soon to be admitted on excellent teinis. The electrical workers controversy, involving a secession movement, and which has tied up nearly $100,000, is now 'being tried in the courts of Cleveland. It Is expected that a decision de-cision will be had In the case In the vory near future. The International Boilermakers' union during the past year has reorganized re-organized eighteen branch locals and reorganized four locals that had surrendered sur-rendered their charters. Altogether It was the most successful year In the history of the union Nearly 'n million and a half families fam-ilies In Japan devote all or part of their time to silk culture. A million persons are exclusively engaged in fisheries, while another million and a half combine fishing without some other occupations. A Federation of Theatrical Employes Em-ployes has been organized in San Francisco by the Musicians' union, the Theatrical Stage Employes' association, asso-ciation, the Janitors' union, the While Rat Actors' union and the Moving Picture Machine Operators' union. The International Paper company has notified Its employes that after May 1 the wages for all pain on an hourly basis 'will bo Increased 1 cent an hour. The Increase amounts to approximately $150,000 a year and Is granted voluntarily by the company. Canadian musicians are now organized or-ganized in the following towns of Ontario On-tario as part of tho International trade union movement. Ottawa, Belleville, Toronto, Potorboro, St, Catharlnea, Hamilton, Brantford, Woodstock, Gait, Berlin, London, Snrnia and Windsor The Swiss federal insurance law insurance against Illness and accident as passed bj both cbnmbcrs on Jnn 13, 1911, has been accepted by tho electors of the republic with a small majority. All Swiss citizens aro entitled en-titled to insurance against Illness, and foreigners also may bo admitted to the beneTlts of the law. Insurance against accidents Is compulsory for all officials, employes and workmen of a,ll the factories, trades, etc., which are now under the federal liability law. According to the record of industrial indus-trial accidents kept by the Canadian department of labor, O'l persons wore killed and 17S injured during February Febru-ary In January SG were killed and 211 injured. In February, 1911, iK! were killedand 197 injured. The s.tate labor commissioner of California has issued a circular letter let-ter to employers, in which he calls attention to the state law prohibiting employers from compeJlins Jhcjr cm-plot cm-plot cs to work more than six consecutive consec-utive das without granting them a day of rest. The general cxecutivo board of the Brothorhood of Carpenters and Joiners Join-ers some time ago appointed a com-I'miltce com-I'miltce to take up tho question of es-I es-I tablishlng a homo for the aged and Infirm members of the union. The cpmmittee has filed its report recommending rec-ommending that such home bo established. estab-lished. Wago increases aggregating more than $10,000,000 will go Into tho pockets of Now England textile workers work-ers during the next twelve months, according to authoritative estimates of the result of the of the present upward up-ward trend of wages in cotton and woolen mills. On the basis of an annual an-nual paw-oil of $79,000,000 in the woolen wool-en mills, the Increase thero will amount to 35.600.000. while cotton mill operatives will receive an advance ad-vance of $5,000,000. s The British Trades Boards Act has now been extended to the notoriously J sweated industry, the box making j trade. A minimum wage of -G cents I an hour has been fixed, with flfty- Itwo hours per week, making a weekly week-ly wage of $3.25. This seems an extremely ex-tremely small-wage, yet it is a large I advance over the miserable pittance j which has been -paid heretofore by I employers, who. have taken advantage of the helplessness of women work- ers. Tho national committee on prison labor announces that it will take an active part in the next presidential campaign, as well as in the gubernatorial guberna-torial campaigns of the various slates. The ultimate object of the committee Is to secure adequate compensation for inmates of prisons for labor performed per-formed by them, with the view of proiding for members of prisoners' families or others who were dopend-ont dopend-ont upon them before their conviction. At tho same time efforts are being made to have prisons so conducted that every prisoner shall be continually continu-ally om ployed at some vocation that may be of use to him in 'earning a livelihood when he is released A. J. EISSING nn |