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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370 MUNICH. observed during the year at Munich, and in addition some works either close altogether or for half the day on eight Roman Catholic Church festivals and saints’ days. A notable feature in the industrial organisation of Munich is the increasing tendency to resort to wages agreements determining for a fixed period both the rates of wages and the general conditions of employment. Already a large number of such agreements have been concluded in various industries, eleven in the building trades alone, and though the movement originated with the workpeople the employers seem more and more disposed to adopt this method of assuring for themselves more stable conditions of enterprise. For while a wages agreement almost invariably implies the concession of new demands in favour of the workmen, from the stand point of the employer it has the advantage of relieving him of uncertainty and of enabling him to estimate with greater precision the bearing of the wages factor upon the costs of production lor some time to come. In the conclusion of these wages agreements the municipal Industrial Court (Gewerbegericht) has been of great assistance, for not infrequently an agreement is the direct result of proceedings brought before that Court by complaining suitors. The movement in favour of collective wages agreements has made most progress in the building trades and least in the machine and metal trades, though several apply to individual groups of workmen in these trades. Thus in two iron foundries the moulders and core makers are secured minimum wages of 3s. 2\d. per day, machine moulders 3s. 5d., and cleaners 3s., which rates must be guaranteed for piece work, and agreements exist also for assemblers and metal-beaters. In the engineering trade skilled men as a rule earn between 25s. and 32s. per week, and the latter rate is only exceeded in a few cases, while labourers earn from 18s. to 21s. In the boot and shoe making trade the range is from 24s. to 28s., glove makers earn from 25s. to 27s., but more in individual cases, and in the rubber goods trade the rate for the more skilled men varies from 20s. 5d. to 25s. 2d. In all these trades unskilled workmen earn from lGs. 10c7. to 20s. The pianoforte industry is one of the best paid industries in the town, skilled , men earning from 30s. to 40s. per week and labourers 21s. to 24s. In the stained glass industry, which is important at Munich, painters earn about 45s., and more in exceptional cases, while burners earn from 30s. to 45s. But payment in this industry is entirely according to individual capacity. The standard rate for printers is 26s. 5a., that for lithographers is 25s., and that for bookbinders 21s., but in practice these rates are exceeded. In the chromo and art printing trade, of which Munich is a leading centre in Germany, printers and autotypers earn about 35s., and chromographers 40s., while the wages of other skilled men range from 28s. to 30s. The usual rates of wages in the building trades range from 24s. 4d. for painters to 31s. 2d. for bricklayers and masons ; between come carpenters 29s. 5d., joiners and cabinetmakers 27s., plumbers and fitters 29s. 8A, and glaziers 25s. 8d. Bricklayers’ and masons’ labourers and excavators receive 22s. 10d. for a full week’s work, but the general rate of unskilled day labour locally is 16s. 10d., though a higher rate is paid by the municipality. Payment by the hour is almost universal in these trades ; of 16,180 workmen whose rates of wages were collected by Dr. Singer, the Director of the Municipal Statistical Office, in the winter of 1905-6, only 1,780 were otherwise paid. The employees in the important brewing trade of Munich are now, under an agreement of recent origin, paid altogether in money, and the old system of beer allowances (which used to amount to 12 pints a day in the case of brewers) has been abolished. The net weekly wages of men engaged directly in the handling of beer are usually 36s., this amount being reached after four years service. The system of living with the master still continues in the baking trade, which is mostly in the hands of small employers. The value of board and lodging is generally estimated at 10s. a week. The result of this arrangement is that nearly all the journeymen bakers are single men, and that when a baker marries he generally begins business on his own account or seeks another trade. The system of living in is, however, threatened by the latest wages agreement concluded in this trade, for unless masters and men otherwise decide in the meantime it will be discontinued in 1908, after which date board and lodging will be commuted for a money payment.

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