Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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KÖNIGSBERG. 277 Königsberg, all of whom belong to the union. According to the same authority there are some 400 grain, &c., carriers, of whom 300 belong to the union, while of about 400 men working inside the granaries and warehouses only 150 are organised. In addition to the groups just named there is that of the transport workers engaged in the conveyance of goods in vehicles (other than railway) by land and water, and of these some 1,400 are organised. Thus it is certain that there are at least 2,500 men engaged in labour of a more or less casual nature directly connected with wharves and warehouses, and the probability is that this number is much greater. Among what may be termed industrial occupations the most important group is that comprised under the heading “ Metal-working and engineering,” including more especially the construction of railway rolling stock, in which some 1.900 men are employed by two firms. After metal working and engineering comes the food, drink, and tobacco group employing over 3,000 workpeople, of whom the greater number work in breweries and in tobacco and cigar manufactories. Saw-milling and wood-pulp making swell the figures of the wood-working group, which ranks third in local importance. Among the other trades affording a considerable amount of employment in the town, tailoring may be said to be the most important. The one really distinctive industry with which the name of Königsberg is associated—the amber industry —affords but little employment in the town. Since July 1st, 1899, the amber mines in the Samland district east of Königsberg have become the property of the Prussian Government, from whom the firms engaged in the manufacture of amber goods obtain their supplies of raw amber direct. The actual processes of manufacture, grinding, polishing, turning, &c., are however, for the most part, performed by home-workers, including women. The building trades, as already stated, are not properly represented in the table. That they afford employment to a very large number of workmen in Königsberg is beyond question, for they have been greatly stimulated by the necessity of providing house-room for the increasing population. The number of workpeople employed in the various branches of the building trade at the end of 1905 cannot have been far short of 5,000, for at the date of the occupation census in 1895 it was 4,145, and must have increased much more rapidly than the population as a whole, which was 14 per cent, greater in 1905 than in 1895. The relative importance of the various groups of trades in Königsberg is in some degree reflected in the grouping of the organised workers, of whom there were close upon 10,000 at the end of 1906 distributed in the manner shown below :— Membership of Königsberg Trade Unions at end of 1906. Group of Trades. Building Metal and engineering Clothing Transport and dock labour Printing and allied trades Woodworking Food preparation (bakers and millers) Municipal workmen Other (including unclassified) ... Total ... Membership of Trade Union. 2,555 843 644 2,497 392 1,201 132 600 992 9,856 The principle of fixing the conditions of labour by formal wages and hours agreements has been considerably developed in Königsberg, especially of late years. General agreements affecting the whole of the trade are in force for the plumbers, painters, joiners, and cabinet makers ; also for the fitters and smiths in the smaller establishments engaged in iron-construction work ; for the stevedores and for the bespoke tailoring trade. Most of the greater firms engaged in the timber export trade have separate agreements with their men. The following table gives the predominant wages and hours of labour in the principal occupations :—

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