30,000 Polish Artisans Face Loss of Jobs if Not Registered

With December 31 the last day on which statement of legal status will be issued to Polish artisans and their workshops and with thousands of Jewish artisans still unregistered, the United Committee, headed by J. Gitterman of the Joint Distribution Committee, has intensified its campaign to impress upon Jewish artisans the importance of such registration.

The United Committee was formed by the J. D. C. , the Jewish Colonization Association, the Central Artisans’ League and the ORT, shortly after the passage of an industrial law in 1927, which is expected, when promulgated, to create great hardships for Jewish artisans.

321 BUREAUS OPENED

Bureaus were opened in 321 Polish cities and towns to carry on the committee’s work, Gitterman disclosed, with the result that more than 10,000 persons have taken advantage of the grace period which ends December 31. There are still more than 30,000 who have not yet registered, however, and it is these the committee is trying to reach.

After the first of January, 1935, all unregistered workshops may be closed by the authorities and all unlicensed workers may lose their jobs.

A recently instituted campaign by certain artisans’ groups to prevent the issue of licenses to artisans under thirty years of age is being vigorously opposed by the United Committee on the ground that the new law makes no age restrictions other than that the applicant may not be a minor. Many Jewish youths would be affected should the proposed age restrictions be adopted.

A warning that the coming year may be the last one during which it will be reasonably easy for young people to enter artisans’ workshops as apprentices was also sounded by Gitterman. It is expected that after 1935 access to the various trades will be made much more difficult than it is as present.