THE EXERTION WAGE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 493, 28 April 1909, Page 6

THE EXERTION WAGE.

The Prime Minister is to be congratu-_ lated on his uncompromising reply to the protest of the Wellington Trades ; and Labour Council.against the principle of W exertion wage, :• For some time past the contractors for the Otira tunnel have sought to stimulate tb,ejr workers at the heading of the tunnel by , offering an extra payment, in addition to the rate of' wages laid down by. the Arbitration. Court, for performed abovo a certain standard of quantity. As their minimum wage \lnder the Act is assured to the men, and the employers' special offer merely a reward for any extra effort they may make, it might be thought that no fault could be found with this practice, but it is strongly opposed to the feelings of some trades unionists. Their view apparently is that if one. man can , do moro in • a.given time than, another he should be discouraged from so doing rather than encouraged, on the ground that men who do too much for their employer tend to crowd out other workmen, who might otherwise be ■employed at his' expenso. ' Tho system inaugurated at the Otira.works gave deep displeasure to ; tho r Trades and Labour Council, who sent a remonstrance to the Minister for Public Works-and Minister for Labour. The.Minister for Public. Works replied that so long as tho Department's contractors paid the rato of wages required by tho award it could not interfere with their proceedings. The Council then demanded that.tho Government should in future contracts "insert a clauso providing that a proper wage be paid to all employees, and a further 'clauso providing against anything in the nature of an exertion wage." To this the Prime Minister has, very properly replied that the Government will not, in the Otira or future contract works, interfere between its contractors and their employees so long as tho Arbitration Court owardratofl are paid, i; >

The dissatisfaction of tho Tradee Council with this reply, which was immediately expressed by resolution, can only be explained by its .devotion to that policy of "ca' canny," of which the argument has been already given, and which is entirely foolish from tho worker's own point of view. If industry woro not productive of , capital, and capital productive of now industries and extension of old,, there might , be something in the contention of those who favour this policy, although they ignore the .obvious fact that no industry can carry more than a certain limit of wage expenditure for a given return ot y > output without losing money' or raising the price of its products. IE the latter course is adopted the whole co'mmunity suffers; if money.is : lost in carrying on the industry it must eventually close down, and both the employer and his employees suffer. The greater the .productiveness of the, individual the greater the wealth of the community. Why should a workman gifted with superior strength or greater skill at his trade be forced to restrict his efforts to the limit of his weaker or less skilled fellow worker; and if with the same amount of effort as his fellow worker his output is greater, surely he is entitled to 1 consideration for that extra output 1 The weaker or less skilled worker, being already protected by the, fixing of a reasonable minimum wage based on the average worker's output, : cannot complain at the extra payment in recognition of a. greater return. If workers set themselves, by'a policy of deliberately low outputs, to make tho enterprises of employers unprofitable, the logical result of such a course can only bo bo terminate these enterprises, and so cut off their own sources of employment, i The interests of employers ', and employees, as has been pointed out : so.often, must always be inter-depen-dent to a great extent, and the worker who is able, by exerting his full capacity, to assist his employer's 'enterprise and increase his own earnings at the same time, should be glad to promote the double interest, especially as the increased productivity means an increased capital, whose development will assist other workers. ■'..'■ ■■■" - : ."■■■■ ■". :■'■■■■ :