ECONOMICS OF LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 50, 27 August 1921, Page 9

ECONOMICS OF LABOUR

WORKERS' EDUCATION

PROFESSOR MURPHY'S LECTURES.

The Workers' Educational Associations Advanced Economics Class continues to be well attended each Tuesday, night at Banks College, and the. subject, The Economics of labour,)' is being dealt with in a most interesting and roformativo way by Professor Murphy, the tutor to the olass. Continuing his references to trade unionism, Professor Murphy said that one of the worst features of union organisation waa the lack o' settled and logical basis for unionism resulting in • overlapping unions and officials, and demarcation disputes. Much energy of unionism was thu6 wasted in internal fighting. There were at least seven possible bases: —(1) By craft; (2) by industry; (3) by material worked in; (4) by employer, that was, CO; operative and municipal employees unions; (6) by sex; (6) by religion; (7) universal (one big union). Of those, the contest was between craft and industrial unionism, the latter appearing, to be the stronger fighting basis, and \ according with the tendencies of the age, as shown in Whitleyi3m and gild socialism. The "One Big Union" idea was too wide as a basis, and the old problems would stiU have to be faced when considering its internal structure. LEADERSHIP. In leadership, said Professor Murphy, the movement had been weak until recently. ' The unions were only now waking up to the need for a strong and skilled "general staff." There was also the dangers of the lenders, especially when they combined parliamentary with trade union duties, getting out of touch and sympathy with the rank and file. Inat had led to some insurgent movements, and the growth of the shop stewards movement, which was analogous to the revolt of the non-commissioned officers of an army, their seizing power and running thing 3. - ' , Inter-union relations still caused much trouble, and tho progress of amalgamation and absorption was not easy, partly owing to tho state of the law, which until recently made amalgamation very difficult, partly owing to the difficulty of financial co-operation owing to \ differences in accumulated funds, rates of contributio"h, and benefit, mnd partly to the difficulty in disposing of officials who would by such a move be rendered useless or less important. Tho wider and earlier question, that of desertion of the unskilled by the skilled section of labour, was solved in- the last generation by tho renewed' interest shown in the lower industrial sections, resulting- in a "new unionism.'" The relation *of unionism to the St»te had grown in • importance in'the last generation, especially since the war forced {ho British Government to conciliate Labour, and in much of the humanitarian legislation in Britain in the. last decaao, for example, the National Insurance Act and the Corn Production Act, the trade union organisation had been recognised as an internal organ of the State, and Labour had won a position of equality with other interests in the national life of Britain. . * INDUSTRIAL IMPROVEMENT, In the matter of industrial improve-, mont, Professor Murphy said that the at-; titude of trade unionism was not blindly to oppose change; but to prevent the introduction of new machines and processes so rapidly as to throw too many men out of work, to secure for displaced men priority of work on the new machines, and to try and secure for Labour,, in the form of better wages or shorter hours, some of the benefits of industrial advance. In relation to society, t"ne unions, both men and mastere, needed broadening, they boinK narrowly sectional. They Were, as a rule, called into activity only for. the purposes of industrial hostilities, and it was to be hoped that in future, for example, under Whitleyism, they would be just as much concerned with constructive proposals. There was no reason to anticipate the inauguration of the millennium merely through the!development of trade unions. ' ';'■'. LABOUR E2GISLATTON. ...-,- In introducing the question of labour legislation, Professor Murphy remarked that it was part of the "collectiyist" tendency of the last fifty years, springing from the conviction that free contract was not really free, ■ and that when individual and social interests conflict, or short and long-run interests conflict, the long-run ancT social interest must prevail. Four main classes of this legislation werei: —(1) Environmental, dealing with factory, sanitation, accident prevention, and occupational disease. (2) Time, governing hours of labour. (3) Wage, fixing standard' or minimum rates of reward. (4) Age and sex, fixing conditions for women and children.

Labour, was a commodity,; but the labourer was a citizen, and must be treated as such. The State was vitally interested on social and political grounds in seeing that its citizens had the minima to make them decent 'pitizens. Labour unaided was inferior in bargaining power to the employer,, and hence required "class" legislationl to level up the struggle. The employer was not similarly protected* because he was strong enough 'to protect himself. Competitive capitalism, unregulated, would swiftly destroy the proletariat, and in the process pull down itself and the State as well, if limits were not set to the process. Labour legislation reached on the efficiency of labour, built up a better standard of life, and resulted in more efficient production.

GENERAL POINTS.

There waa a point of maximum efficiency in connection with labour legislation'as elsewhere, continued the lecturer, as too much protection, by weakening the fibre, of the workers, was nearly as injurious as too little. It was not good to do for men when they could and should do for themselves: An , organ would atrophy through disuse. Labour legislation 1 was futile unless extremely detailed and enforced by a large staff of competent inspectors. < The freedom of the modern labourer was illusory; unless he would submit to the factory system he could" hot in general 'work at all, and while there he was liable for tho results, not only of his own negligence, but of others 83 well. Unless the ■ law standardised conditions, competition would prevent good employers from establishing: good conditions, as they would be undersold by their less humane competitors. The plane. must be fixed at the name "time for all. Other factors, in order of strength, which helped the worker, were :~(1) Trade union action; (2) public opinion, which was fitful and spasmodic; and (3) religious Banctions, which were not powerful in the industrial world.

FACTORY ACTS,

* Professor Murphy said that Factory Acts proper were needed, inaiidy because of the increased liability to accident in modem times, and because the employer individually had, in the absence of legislation, little inducement to care for the ■ health of his workers, since he was able to get them for nothing. It was ■ different under compulsory compensation for accidents, but Factory Acts grew up before compensation. Workers, : too, became heedless of danger, and safety precautions often had to bo forced upon them. Age and sex legislation was needed, in the case of children to secure health, recreation, and education, without which the community would deteriorate; and in the. case of women, to protect the health of future mothers. The employment of children' was always disastrous, and their wages really came out of the income of the father, by lowering his wages through infant competition, and making him willing to accept less than if he were sole breadwinner.