70 MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
W. Lucas, chairman of the board, stated that policy to a gathering of
the representatives of the Cape clothing industry, and explained
that the department of labor would welcome the formation of an
industrial council.
The first recommendations were published in July, 1926, and met
with some objections from the commercial world. ‘Some provisions
were not understood, but the board was able, in conference with the
objectors, to discuss in detail the determinations and to remove many
misunderstandings.’® The first industries for which recommendations
were made were various branches of the candy industry, the
clothing industry, and the baking industry. Diversified rates were
promulgated for various operations and provisional recommendations
made in September, 1926," which led to final recommendations for
the candy and baking industries on May 6 and 20, 1927, respectively,?
but they were made effective only for that part of the country where
no industrial council could be established.'* The board had to contend
also with the disparity between wages in different parts of the
country and attempted to solve the difficulty by allowing for centers
with low wages a reasonable period of adjustment.’* The board also
found it useful to promulgate ascending scales of wages based on
length of experience in the industry in order to give an incentive to
employees to do their best and thereby avoid dismissal before attainment
of the higher grades of wages.!® The board endeavors, particularly,
to decrease the gap between skilled and unskilled employees.
In the biscuit industry, for instance, it recommended for biscuit
makers £6 per week, for ovenmen and brakemen £4 1s., and for their
assistants 5 2s. 6d., while theretofore the wages of ovenmen and
brakemen had been much lower. A biscuit maker who can not
obtain employment in his line may be enabled thereby to find work
as an ovenman at a reasonable wage.’* The specific provisions of
the act (art. 7) as to objections to provisional determinations of the
board came into play, for instance, in the procedure relating to the
leather industry in June, 1927. The wages board amended somewhat
its original proposals to meet to a certain extent the objections formulated.**
More difficult was the situation in the hat and cap industry
and certain groups of clothing manufacture. The board heard representatives
of manufacturers who raised objections and was satisfied
that there would probably soon be set up an industrial council for
the clothing industry. It agreed to postpone its final determination
on condition that an industrial council agreement be submitted for
the approval of the board by March 15, 1927, but decided to make an
interim recommendation. This recommendation was published as a
determination on December 30, 1926, but was invalidated by judgment
of the Transvaal provincial division of the supreme court on
April 25, 1927." The effect of the judgment was to invalidate the
Jetermination in respect of the sweet manufacturing, clothing, bak-®
Union of South Africa. Department of Labor. Social and Industrial Review, Preoria,
July, 1927, p. 72.
10 Tdem, December, 1927, p. 517.
1 Tdem, special ed., September, 1926.
2 "dem, July, 1927, p. 69.
< ydem, November, 1927, p. 452.
# Idem, December, 1927, p. 518.
8 Idem, December, 1927, p. 519. -
18 Idem, second special ed., June, 1927, .
7 Idem, first special ed., November, 1927, p. 81.
