LONG HOURS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 8, 11 January 1943, Page 3

LONG HOURS

FACTORY WORKERS

HUMAN EFFICIENCY

The critical position prevailing at the time was emphasised today by the Minister of Supply and Munitions (Mr. Sullivan) when referring to comment made by Dr. ' A. E. C. Hare, Valder Research Fellow in Social Relations in Industry, Victoria College, on the employment of men for long hours in munition factories. Dr. Hare devoted! part of his annual report to a discussion of the causes of absenteeism in industry, and in the course of his argument he stressed the fallacy of the idea that output can automatically be increased by increasing hours of work. "In his comments Dr. Hare made reference to statements which had been made by me as Minister of Supply and Munitions from time to time regarding the hours being worked in munitions factories," said Mr. Sullivan, "and a certain section of th* Press has adopted a critical attitude in support of Dr. Hare against the fallacy of trying to increase production by increasing the hours of work beyond the stage of human efficiency. "My object in making statements regarding the long hours being worked by New Zealand workers in our war production and munitions enterprises was to give to the men and women in our factories the credit which they justly deserve, and to offset to some extent the bitter criticism which has been levelled against the workers, their trade unions, and the Government for not enforcing by regulation extended hours of work for all workers irrespective of the essentiality of their particular work to our war effort. The quotation attributed to me by Dr. Hare and repeated by a part of the Press comes from a paragraph in the statement released for the information of the public regarding the magnificent effort which had been made by New Zealand engineers in the production of machine-gun carriers. UNFAIRNESS ALLEGED. "I stated in reply to criticism directed against the workers that for several weeks men engaged in the production of machine-gun carriers had averaged 77'iiours of work, but I consider that Dr. Hare and some newspapers are unfair in extracting this statement from its context and m ignoring the very critical position .of our security at the time. The situation arose in December, 1941, and January, 1942, 'just after Pearl Harbour and the entry of Japan into the war. The position was that some 50 engineering firms throughout the Dominion had spent many months tooling up and manufacturing the thousands of component parts for machine-gun carriers. Over 12 months of planning and organisation had been devoted to-the preparation for construction of these vehicles by massprpduction methods. When Japan came into the war the production line was established, stocks of material were ready at every point of the line, adequate supplies of all the component parts were flowing into the assembly shops, the design of the vehicle which for months had been frequently amended and improved was completed, and all that was required was man-power to assemble the greatest possible number of fighting vehicles in the shortest possible time •to meet the threat against this country. The Army had a few imported carriers. They also had a small number of riveted Bren-gun carriers which had previously been made in New Zealand on the initiative taken by myself in Australia, but the production line was then ready to commence the output of welded machinegun carriers of the latest design, and we wanted these fighting vehicles on the beaches of New Zealand and not in the assembly shops. We had planned to produce ten a week after five months' production, but we actually produced, under the high pressure of the emergency, ten a week after the fifth week of production. The speed of assembly was dependent upon the number of hours of welding which could be aoplied on the production line, and skilled welders had been brought from all over the Dominion for the purpose. These men knew that the need was urgent; that output was limited only by the limit of their capacity to work. The men -to their credit in the face of the emergency were prepared to work 'soldiers' hours,' with the result that our army in the field got the carriers months ahead of the scheduled production time in spite of the fact that overseas experts had said that our New Zealand engineers were being too optimistic in planning the high production figures which they aimed for. past week or two, is there is now a sol "I think that even Dr. Hare will admit that under emergency conditions such as were ruling twelve months ago, the guiding factor is not what the re-' search text book says should happen ] but the absolute maximum that soldiers and workers can give in de-1 fence of their country. Dr. Hare might also admit that it is not scientific to quote such an isolated case as a basis for a general conclusion in a research report. "As Minister in charge of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, I yield place to no one in my appreciation of the benefits which industrial research can confer on our industrial conditions, relationships, and products. A NEW DIVISION. "In the implementation of this policy, even while the stress of war conditions are with us, I recently , established the industrial psychology division which is located at Victoria University, and operates as a division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Through this agency, the Government is providing a staff of expert investigators and research workers to examine conditions in industry both from the workers' and the employers' point of view with a view to establishing conditions of work, such as lighting, heating, ventilation, seating, equpment, and I am hopeful that ths division will assist considerably towards the continual improvement of our factories so that they become places not designed solely for the operation of machinery but for the employment of humanity on a basis that will make for the best conservation of their welfare and their efficiency.

"I wish again to thank the workers in the munition and engineering industries generally for the magnificent effort they, together with their employers, made in the hour of the country's greatest emergency," Mr. Sullivan concluded. "I know that they will be able to estimate correctly the motives of some who day in and day out criticise the workers and. their Government

because longer hours are not worked, but seize, as a stick with which lo beat the Government, the fact that in the national emergency the workers willingly worked abnormally long hours. It is obviously impossible to please our critics."