The Industrial Problem at the Avondale College
By Bertha S. Chaney
In the Australian field the educational work has long been established, and has for many years had its center at the missionary college near Sydney. This school was built in the Australian bush, far from the cities, on a large estate. Its secluded position has caused it to develop some features not to be found in any of our other denominational schools. From the first, the manual work has received a great deal of attention. The pen of prophecy has made very plain the many benefits which students receive from spending a part of each day in physical work. More than this, the location of this school called for much hard work. Before a building could be put up or a field planted, the heavy eucalyptus bush had to be cleared from the ground. Being situated so far in the country, many industries which are required to build up a big institution and to keep it in running order have gradually grown up on the place. Besides the industries of blacksmithing, carpentering, sewing, baking, etc., which the needs of the college, with its ever-increasing family of students, call for, there have been established a large food factory and a printing-press. As student labor has to a large extent been used to operate these several departments, opportunities have been given for a number of students to attend the college and work for their schooling. At the present time there are one hundred out of one hundred and thirty-three in attendance who are either part- or full-working students. The young people vary in their ability to work. Some come whose work is skilled; they are cabinet-workers or typesetters or handy mechanics, and so are worth more to the school than the unskilled workers. As it was necessary to differentiate in the amount of credit granted to the skilled and the unskilled, it has come to be a long-established custom to grant a stated wage to all working students. The situation is certainly peculiar. Young people receive wages from the college while attending it. The management has always considered that the work done was in lieu of fees, and it was for the convenience of keeping the accounts that a wage of so much an hour was granted. While this is the way the business manager looks upon it, the government inspector, who regularly visits the factory and press, has recently taken a very different view of it. For a number of years the inspectors seemed satisfied with the conditions under which the students worked, their suggestions for improvement being in regard to guarding the machinery and such details; but a few months ago a new inspector was appointed for this district. He decided that the young people working in these two workshops were regular employees in the eyes of the law, and that the college should conform to the different awards covering the several kinds of employment. There is an award or law for printers, stipulating the number of hours the printer may be allowed to work, the price he must be paid an hour, the number of journeymen that the office must employ for each apprentice, and every other detail which relates to the employee. For the engine-driver there is a similar award, and so for all the different classes of laborers. Now while these laws are excellent for the laboring people and give to the workmen and workwomen of Australia most enviable work conditions, equaled perhaps nowhere in the world, they are not practicable for the school. The award requires that all Sunday work shall be paid at double rate, and overtime at time and a half. The press has a further difficulty in that the students are neither journeymen nor apprentices, the only classes recognized in the award for printers. As those who work in the printing-office do so as a means to an end, simply to earn their way through school, not to learn a trade, they have no wish to serve a long apprenticeship of seven years. Nor is the office able to employ so many persons at journeyman's wages. The Avondale Press is not a commercial enterprise; it is essentially a missionary one, the main business of which is to print papers and books for the South Pacific islands. But of course such a printing establishment is not recognized in the award. A similar difficulty was pointed out by the inspector in regard to the engine-drivers. A regular engineer has charge of the factory engine, whose work and wages are entirely in accord with the engine-drivers' award, but for the students who drive the engine morning and evening to furnish power for the electric lighting the conditions of the award are impracticable. An application was made by the conference for a variation from this inspector's ruling in the award to students, and also for Sunday work. The case was carried to the court of industrial arbitration, which has its sittings in Sydney. Pastor Teasdale, the principal of the college, had to appear before the court and explain the peculiar circumstances of the case. As is the custom where lawyers are concerned, every detail of the case was thoroughly aired. The missionary aim of the college was again and again emphasized, and the character and scope of its work made clear in the questionings and cross-questionings. In a sworn affidavit Pastor Teasdale stated that “the college board has always considered the industrial departments to be only private adjuncts of the college for its convenience and the benefit of the students. In no way do the departments compete with business firms.” “The members of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, by whom the institution is operated and patronized, keep Saturday instead of Sunday for Sabbath, and, at the college, work only half a day on Friday, as the award directs concerning Saturday. For this reason they desire to be exempted from the letter of the awards which require extra pay on Sunday.” After lengthy discussion the judge was satisfied with the explanation of the case, although he hesitated on the Sunday work, saying: “I see a little difficulty about that. The Jews might make the same request. Saturday is their Sabbath, the same as yours; but if they work anybody on Sunday, they have to pay him overtime. It is one of the matters in which the conditions of life established by the immense majority have to be considered. The immense majority of people in the country are people who observe the Sunday for a day of worship or rest. It is true you are an isolated community.” After some further questioning he granted “exemption from the award as regards its students, and as regards any members of the classes of labor included in the award who may be Seventh-day Adventists, . . . exemption from the provision that ‘all time worked on Sunday shall be deemed overtime.’” The teachers, students, and friends of the school had prayed much that the work of the college would not be crippled by being compelled to comply with these labor laws, and deep gratitude was felt and expressed when the word came that exemption was granted. Although the case for the printing-office has not yet been settled, it is confidently hoped that the favorable finding already made will establish a precedent for future decisions.