KÖNIGSBERG.

279

Weekly  Wages.

Weekly  Hours  of
Labour.

Municipal  Employees  :—
Road  making  and  repairing  :—
Unskilled  labourers
Skilled  paviors
Street  cleaning  :—
Sweepers
Carmen
Gasworks  :—
Stokers  ...
Labourers  ...
Waterworks  :—
Labourers
Municipal  Tramways  :—
Drivers
Conductors  ...
Electric  lighting  and  power  stations
Stokers
Enginemen
Erectors
Fitters...
Installators

15s.
28s.  KM.
21s.
20s.  9d.
24s.  (M.
21s.
18s.  to  20s.  5d.
21  s.
22s.  9c?.
29s.  5cl.
25s.  6d.
21s.  Id.

60
60
54-60
60-72
58|
54
60
68
68
48
54
54

Comparing  these  wages  with  those  in  Berlin,  and  taking  the  latter  as  100,
the  index  numbers  for  Königsberg  are  as  follows  :—Building  trades,  skilled
men,  80,  labourers,  90  ;  and  printing  trades,  88.
Metal  and  Engineering  Trades.  The  two  principal  concerns  in  the
engineering  trades—one  manufacturing  railway  carriages  and  the  other  locomotives—declined ­
  to  furnish  data  respecting  the  wages  and  hours  of  labour  of
their  men,  but,  according  to  the  information  supplied  by  the  metal-workers’
Union,  many  of  whose  members  are  employed  by  the  firms  in  question,  the
predominant  earnings  in  these  establishments  for  a  full  week  of  60  hours  were
those  shown  in  the  Table.  In  the  smaller  establishments  employing  fitters
and  smiths,  e.g.,  in  making  and  fixing  railings  and  iron  structures  for  use  in
connection  with  buildings,  the  conditions  of  labour  have  been  regulated  by
agreement  since  May,  1905.  Since  October,  1905,  the  agreement  has  been
revised,  the  hours  of  labour  remaining  the  same,  but  the  hourly  rate  being
increased  from  38  pfennige  (about  4^d.)  to  40  pfennige  (about  4\d.)  from
May  1st,  1906,  and  to  43  pfennige  (about  b\d.)  from  April  1st,  1907.
Clothing  Trade.  The  bespoke  tailoring  trade  is  of  considerable  importance
in  Königsberg,  owing  to  the  strong  military,  official  and  scholastic  element  in
the  population,  and  the  journeymen  tailors  are  well  organised.  In  so  far  as
the  work  is  done  in  workshops  and  not  given  out  to  homeworkers,  its  conditions
are  fixed  by  an  agreement  which  provides  for  a  working  week  of  60  hours.
Transport  and  Dock  Labour.  For  loading  and  discharging,  the  shipowners ­
  deal  with  the  master  stevedores,  whom  they  pay  by  the  ton.  The  latter
have  now  an  agreement  with  the  men  for  a  day-shift  of  10  hours,  from  6  a.m.
to  6  p.m.,  with  intervals  for  meals  amounting  to  two  hours.  For  work  done
during  the  day-shift  the  rate  of  wages  is  6<i.  per  hour.  The  time  from  6  p.m.
till  8  p.m,  is  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  9\d.,  and  every  hour  from  9  p.m  till  6  a.m.
at  the  rate  of  Is.  The  above  agreement  did  not  exist,  however,  at  October,
1905,  when  each  master  stevedore  paid  whatever  rate  per  hour  he  could  get  his
men  to  accept.  That  the  rates  were  then  considerably  lower  is  shown  by  a
return  furnished  by  one  of  the  principal  master  stevedores,  whose  men  at
October,  1905,  earned  22s.  for  55  hours’  work,  for  which,  under  the  present
agreement,  they  would  have  received  at  least  27s.  6d.  As  a  matter  oí  tact  the
same  men  at  October,  1906,  earned  28s.  for  55  hours’  work.
In  the  coal  import  trade  practically  the  whole  of  the  work  is  done  on  the
piece-wage  system,  each  of  the  principal  firms  having  its  own  piece-wage
list.  In  each  such  list  provision  is  made  for  cases  where  time  work  may  be
necessary,  and  the  rate  invariably  fixed  is  4^d.  per  hour.
Printing  Trade.  The  conditions  of  labour  in  the  printing  trade  are
regulated  by  the  agreement  which  exists  for  the  whole  of  Germany,  and  fix.es