p. 7 | WAGES IN BELGIUM

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 31, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 22.

WAGES IN BELGIUM.

The Los Angeles Times gives the following schedules of wages and hours of work in Belgium. The amount is expressed in American cents:

Daily Wage.

Wool sorters, 79 cents for men to 19 cents for women; coal weighers, 68; wool weavers, women, 29; upholsterers, 70; teamsters, 60; tailors, 60; wool spinners, 70 to 94; shoemakers, 58 to 78; house servants by the day, without board, 7½ to 14; rollers in iron and steel, 97 to 116; puddlers, 97 to 116; feeders of printing-presses, 35 to 50; potters 119; plumbers, 65; plasterers, 70 to 135; paper hangers, 70; painters, 60; nurses, 16 to 19.

The Hours of Toil.

The hours of work run from eight to twelve, net. The general time is about ten to twelve hours. At Ghent, in the cotton mills, the hours are from eleven to thirteen, and the wages run as low as 18 cents for women to 95 for men. The average given is 38 cents. There are 600,000 spindles at Ghent, running on cotton.

Weekly Wages.

For those who work by the week or from sixty to seventy-two hours, generally nearer the higher figure, wages run: For bricklayers, $4.46; hod carriers, $3.15; masons, $5.10; masons' helpers, $3; plasterers, $4.50; plasterers' helpers, $2.90; plumbers, $5.30; plumbers' helpers, $2.90; carpenters, $4; blacksmiths, $5.25; blacksmiths' strikers, $3.20; bookbinders, $5.25; brewers, $4.35; cabinet makers, $5.55; cigar makers, $6.10; draymen, $3.77; laborers, $3.70; lithographers, $5.75; printers, $5.75; teachers in public schools, $7.65; tanners, $5.50; weavers, $4.90 to $5.88; wool sorters, women, $2.70; wool pickers, $3.50 to $4.75; dyers, $9.25; wool carders, $3.50 up to $10.50 for superintendents; spinners, $3.90 up to $8.70 for superintendents; linen bleachers, $2.45 to $2.95; linen weavers, $1.45 to $2.90; furnace men, $2.70 to $3.95; boys, $1.20; puddlers, $3.95 to $5.90; rollers, $6.75 to $7.75; boys, $2.20; boiler makers, $4.90; helpers, $3.45; machinists, $5.90; model makers, $4.90; common laborers, $3.25.

Here is a section which will directly interest American workmen. At Liége, in the glass works, the rates of wages for a week of seventy-two hours are: Common laborers, $4.90; artists, $12.50; grinders, $10.50; women grinders, $3.95; polishers, $3.20; blowers, $15.50; helpers, $8.75; cutters, $5.40.