116
BRESLAU.
The few trades in which noteworthy exceptions to this rule are to be met with are
comprised in the following industrial groups. 1. Metal-working, Engineering and
Shipbuilding : This group comprises some large works engaged in the building
of river craft (more especially iron-plated barges of great carrying capacity),
the manufacture of railway and road wagons and vans, and iron structural work,
including bridge building. 2. Textile Trades: Some large worsted and cotton
spinning mills fall within this group. 3. Food, <f c. Preparations : Breweries,
sugar refineries, steam bakeries and corn mills are among the largest of the
industrial enterprises in Breslau.
The Trade Union movement in Breslau is still comparatively young, and
the number of workpeople organised for the purpose of securing better
conditions of labour is small in proportion to the general body of manual
workers, nevertheless their influence in promoting the principle of collective
bargaining is becoming more and more noticeable. The Unions affiliated to the
Breslau Trades Council numbered 53 with a total of 27,025 members in 1906,
their membership having increased by about 10,000 since 1904. All the
Unions affiliated to the Trades Council belong to the " Free ” or Social
Democratic group, by far the most important in numerical strength and funds
among the various groups of Trade Unions in Germany.
The following statement shows the extent to which certain groups of
trades were represented in the membership of the Unions affiliated to the
Trades Council in 1905 (the latest year for which a classification of the
membership according to trades is available) :—
Group of Trades.
Building ... ... ... ... ...
Metal-working, Engineering, and Shipbuilding.
Clothing ... ... ... ... ...
; Printing and Bookbinding
¡ Wood-working
I Food, &c. preparation
J Transport, &c
Other Trades
Total ...
Membership of Trade
Unions in 1905.
6,895
4,260
1,458
1,268
3,020
1,017
2,897
3,342
24,157
In August, 1906, 20 wages agreements between Trade Unions and
Employers’ Associations were in operation in the town, and of these, eight had
reference to various trades connected with building, viz., masons and bricklayers’
labourers, stonecutters, carpenters, joiners, makers of earthenware
sanitary fittings (e.g. basins, sinks, &c.), makers of plaster casts, and stove
fixers. The other 12 agreements concerned the brewery workers, compositors,
process and copperplate printers, bookbinders, tailors, umbrella makers,
cabinet-makers, wood turners, wood carvers, coach-builders, coppersmiths, and
millers.
Most of these agreements contain a clause fixing the minimum rate of
time wage (usually per hour) to be paid to a competent workman in his trade
and the number of hours which shall constitute a day’s work. From these data
it has been possible to compute for a certain number of trades in Breslau the
minimum rate of weekly wages and the usual length of the working week
prevailing in a number of trades in Breslau at October, 1905, and the Results
are embodied in the table given below. Similar information is at the same
time given for a number of trades for which no wages and hours agreements
