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HAMBURG.
The Trade Guilds of Altona numbered 16 in 1906, of which 13 reported to
the Chamber of Handicrafts 1,340 members, employing 3,346 journeymen and
784 apprentices, the largest guild being that of the builders with 61 employers
and 1,693 workpeople.
The working classes oí both towns are exceptionally well organised, and
many of the larger trade unions of the “ Free ” or Social Democratic type have
offices in the Central Hall (“ Gewerkschaftshaus ”) which has been built on the
Besenbinderhof by the Trades Federation, a building of imposing exterior and
proportions combining assembly and committee rooms, labour registries, an
advice agency (“ Workmen’s Secretariate ”), a restaurant, and a lodging-house.
The Christian and Hirsch-Duncker Unions have likewise their homes and
miscellaneous agencies. In 1905 there were affiliated to the “Free” Trades
Federation 94 unions having an aggregate membership of 57,248, Altona
being here included. The largest unions were those of the metal workers with
8,885 members, wood workers with 5,484 members, masons with 4,471
members, labourers in trade and transport undertakings with 3,457 members,
factory workers with 2,762 members, painters and varnishers with 2,110
members, and carpenters with 1,953 members.
These various organisations have played a prominent part in the many
disputes between capital and labour which have occurred during recent years,
and which are to some extent responsible for the fact that the general level of
wages in Hamburg is relatively high, especially in the building trades.
The usual hours of labour in Hamburg are ten daily, though in some
factories work ceases an hour earlier on Saturday. The work day as a rule
lasts from 6 a.m. to 5.30 or 6 p.m., with intervals of half an hour for breakfast
(8 to 8.30) and an hour or an hour and a half at noon, though the “ vesper ”
interval at four o’clock is still observed in some works, in which event less time
is allowed for breakfast. In one of the large oil factories an eight-hour day
was introduced a short time ago, and it is stated to have worked very satisfactorily.
The only recognised holidays are the high festivals of the Church. In
all industries employment from day to day is the rule, though in isolated works
a week’s or even a fortnight’s notice must be given on either side. Wages are
in most cases paid at the end of each week.
The following observations may be added regarding the more important
industries of Hamburg and Altona :—
Shipbuilding and Engineering Trades :—The principal shipbuilding yards
are on the islands south of the town, divided from the mainland by the
North Elbe. Large engineering works are carried on in the industrial quarters
lying to the west, Uhlenhorst, Barmbeck, &c., but Altona—and especially the
Ottensen district—is the most important seat of the iron and machine industries,
though similar works of large extent are also found at Harburg, on the
other side of the South Elbe. Altona’s machine works are mainly dependent
on the shipbuilding industry.
Piecework is common in the shipbuilding industry and the engineering
trades generally, but where time payment is the rule premiums are sometimes
paid, and the piecework principle applies in effect by the observance of a rule
like the following:—“Work is paid for by time and never by piece rates,
nevertheless when the work costs less by time rates than the foreman calculated,
the surplus is paid over.”
The Building Trades.—Wages in the building trades are entirely regulated
by collective agreements, applying both to Hamburg and Altona, the number of
which is exceptionally large. Many of the agreements now in operation are the
result of repeated revision, each one of which has implied some improvement in
the workmen’s wages and general conditions of labour. In these trades a nine
hours’ day predominates, but as it is customary to cease work half an hour earlier
on Saturday, the actual number of hours worked per week is 53J>. It will be
seen from the statement of agreement rates of wages given below that in the
building trades proper the highest weekly earnings fall to the stucco workers,
viz., 42s. to 48s., and stonemasons working in sandstone, viz., 42s. Ilc7. It is a
peculiarity of Hamburg that bricklayers’ labourers engaged in the carrying of
stone and mortar (hodmen), lime slaking, cement mixing, and letting down
materials for drainage and wells are paid as much as bricklayers and carpenters,
