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HAMBURG.
lasts from 6.0 to 6.0, with intervals of half an hour for breakfast (8.0 to 8.30) r
and an hour and a half at noon ; but if there is no noon break the day is held to
be completed at 2.0 p.m. Half a day lasts from 6.0 to 11.30 a.m., or 1.30 to
6.0 p.m., and three-quarters of a day counts from 9.0 to 6.0, with a noon
interval of an hour and a half, or from 9.0 to 2.0 without a break. The
lightermen, numbering from 2,700 to 3,000, had an agreement rate of 4a. 6d.
per day. Thirty years ago the usual rate was from 2s. bd. to 3a., and the first
agreement, concluded in 1888, fixed the rate at 4a. Of the dockers
(“ Quaiarbeiter”) from 1,500 to 1,700 are employed by the State and 1,100 by
private shipping firms. Foremen in 1905 earned on the year’s average from
27a. to 30a. 9d., and permanent men from 23a. Id. to 27a. ; but casual
assistants, of whom many are young men, did not exceed 20a., though on a
piecework footing higher earnings were possible.
The heaviest work done by stevedores is the unloading of English coal, in
which about 500 men are usually engaged. Work is paid by piece and there
are no regular hours. The men begin, as a rule, at 5.0 a.m., with intervals for
meals, continue until the cargo is cleared, which may occupy from 12 to 14 hours
in the case of small vessels and as long as 24 hours in the case of large ones.
The earnings have not varied greatly of late years, and range from 27s. to
38s. 6d. per week on the year’s average ; but the earnings of single weeks are far
higher. Bunker men and trimmers have about the same average earnings.
There are some 300 dredgers in State employ, who earn 28s. per week on
piece : they live for the most part in the outside districts, and have much slack
time in wdnter. Bank repairers, who are all in State service, earn from 21s. to
26s. per week.
Labourers employed in connection with the large warehouses receive from
30s. to 35s. per week if permanent men, and 4s. and 4s. 6d. per day for ordinary
work if casuals. The number of these men is between 1,800 and 2,000.
Labourers engaged in the corn trade, some 500 in number, receive from 3s. 6&
to 4s. per day for day work and 5s. for night work. Warehouse labourers in
Altona receive from 22s. to 25s. per week if handling hides, 30s. for corn, and
as much as 35s. for coffee.
Brick and stone unloaders, wdio are all pieceworkers, earn from 30s. 9d. to
38s. 9d. per week, but there is little work in winter. There are some 200
sail makers engaged in workshops, who work 10 hours per day and earn from
23s. Id. to 30s. 9d. per week according to capacity and regularity of
employment.
Ship-boiler cleaners, who are mostly young, earn from 15s. to 21s. per
week, with 24s. for older men.
Baking.—The practice of living-in still prevails to some extent in the
baking trade, but it only applies generally to confectioners. Where a journeyman
has board and lodging with the master baker a deduction of from 10s. to
12s. is made from the money wages. Between the rates paid by private bakers
and those paid by co-operative societies there is a difference of from 4s. to 5s.
per week in favour of the latter. While first bakers in co-operative bakeries
receive 30s. and 31s. per week, and second bakers 28s., the rates in private
bakeries are 25s. to 30s. and 24s. respectively. The hours in co-onerative
bakeries are also fewer.
Employees of Co-operative Societies.—The co-operative movement is strong
in Hamburg, and the two largest societies employ between them more than
400 persons. The remuneration of their -employees has of late been a burning
question amongst German co-operators, and it is interesting to compare the
wages paid by these rival societies. The predominant weekly rates were as
follows in 1906:—(1) “1856” society—Warehousemen, 40s. to 50s. ; salesmen,
25s. to 30s.; and saleswomen, 18s. to 21s. (2) “Production” society—Warehousemen,
36s. to 40s.; salesmen, 22s. 6(7. to 27s. ; and saleswomen, 15s.
to 20s.
Jute Spinning and Weaving.—At Schiffbeck, a village lying a short
distance south-east of the town, in Prussian territory, is a large jute
spinning and weaving factory worked almost entirely by foreign labourers,
mostly women and girls, Poles, Austrians, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Finns.
