THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 18337, 26 July 1923, Page 4

THE LABOR MOVEMENT

{By Vetxbak.]

Brief contributions on matters with reference to the Labor Movement are invited.

CAREFUL FINANCE,

At one time unions and employers were supplied by the Labor Department with a generous supply of any new award or order of the Arbitration Court which affected their particular industry. The present Government, in its desr.ro for economy, has altered all that. Now if a union wants a copy of any award or order under which it is working it lias to pay for it, and oven pay postage on same.* “Industrial Tramp,’’ in tho Auckland ‘Star,’ commenting on this matter, says:—“By means of careful and scrupulous attention to limnco it is quite feasible to finish, up with a credit on the right side of the lodger. Many of our British proverbs enunciate this fact, such as ‘ Take cave ol the pence, and tho pounds wilt take care ot themselves/ or ‘ A small leak will sink a great ship.’ As ait instance of how tho present Government ‘ looks after lilt 1 pence-, 1 might quote an example that occurred this week. A certain union lacing under t!te necessity of procuring additional copies of _its award, for the'’dual purpose of adding parties to the award and also of supplying new members with a copy of their working conditions, wrote to the department at"'Wellington for sixly copies. A reply came enclosing a bill for the copies, and stating that on receipt- of tho costs as enniuei atod the pared would bo forwarded: Tho hill' was as follows To sixty copies ot the award at 6d each, £1 3Ce,‘ less 20 per rent-., 6s; total, £1 Is. iV.stage, lOd; postage for this reply, Id. Total, £1 4s lid.’ As a- specimen this bill of cos's takes a lot of beating. Imagine a customer being supplied with goods from one of our commercial firms and being charged for the postage on the receipt, sent'back! No wonder wo have a surplus this year! I am not finding fault with tho officials of tho Labor Depart’ mciit for being careful ever,its expenditure. I commend the example set to the notice, of other Government departments, whore a great was to of other than penny postage stamps is going on.”

AMERICAN AND ENGLISH WORKERS In an article on 1 The Supply of Skilled Labor’ the current ‘lndustrial Bulletin’ says;—■

“ Some time ago a certain American firm, desiring to extend its business to England, arranged for tho erection of a factory in Sheffield, identical with (ho American establishment. A works manager was sent over from tho States with plans and specifications, a, cost limit, atul a time limit. Ho was told to employ British labor. He took over with him a building efficiency plant. Included hi this was a movable platform for supplying tho bricklayers with their material at the expense of a minimum of effort or. the part of the workers. The bricks were _ kept constantly at cl bow level, an assistant handed the bricklayer each brick faced the right way, and a hoso pipe fed the cement to the trowel. The British workman, slicking to Ins maximum of 6CO bricks per day, declined to lay any more. The manager sacked the lot, imported American pieceworkers, and immediately raised the figure to 2,000 per man per day. Tho job was finished on time, tho men mado good money, and'—the British workman unionised himself out of a job. “ Tho moral of all this is quite obvious. Old methods will Lave to go. II lie American worker realises by this time that tho greater his output the bettor for himself, Ins family, and his living conditions. The American worker has a higher standard of living than his British contemporary, and he achieves it. Our experience during tho war proved that by intensive methods men could bo. trained to an export decree in work totally different from that in. which they had previously been engaged; that, further, there, was a, surprising inclination on the part of many men who had grown up in blind alley occupations and indoor jobs, surli as clerkships and shop- assistants, to inm to tho skilled crafts for greater rewards and better prospects generally, and that tho (.raining of these men presented no difficulty whatever Men blinded in the war, after a period of training, have become self-supporting citizens, instead of social encumbrances and objects of charity.

“ Why should this work be dropped because t.ho primal necessity for it—the repatriation of the soldiers —has been met? -Why not uses the knowledge and experience thus gained, and make an effo-rt. to organise the training of the unskilled to meet the scarcity of the skilled';”

it- Hr -S * TARIFF RE DUCTION S,

“Industrial Tramp” writes:—The announcement lias been made ■“ in Parliament assembled” that there is to bo a reduction in taxation, owing to the prosperous financial year just passed. The income tar has been reduced, and in October wo resume the penny postage. As I have previously pointed out, these two iloins do not affect the worker to any appreciable extent, for, on the one hand, the income of the average worker is under the minimum of £3OO, from which the tax starts, and, on the oilier, the average worker docs not write a dozen letters a year. Bui tiie reduction of od per lb on tea is another matter. Tea, is used in every homo in the dominion, and a threepenny reduction means a. great deal to large families. Anxious and thrifty housewives have been welcoming I lie reduction on even this one article with sat : isfaction, but it appears that they arc not to reap the full benefit of this generous act of a parental Government, for, strange as it may sound, the reduction of threepence means twopence, and the reason given by the tea merchant is that the other penny is to be taken by him, owing [to an impending advance of overhead

charges. Furthermore, I am informed that the tea merchants of Auckland are not unanimous amongst themselves ns to whether the present price of tea will not have to remain as it is, so as to meet any impending increase of cost. One merchant says it will be reduced 2d per lb, while the others are in a kind of an in statu quo attitude. Now, when a year or two ago the price of tea was on tlm up-grade owing to the war and effect of the war there was no uncertainty ns to the price. Calcutta nr London—l am not sure which —cabled that tea had advanced in price, and the next day it was passed on to the consumers. \\iiy not in the inverse ratio? Because, in (he one case, “the cost of replacement ” —a term that we were ail familiar with during the war—is 1 the course to follow' on rising prices, but on. falling prices ‘Mho price paid’’ is the correct term to use. LOCOMOTIVE DRIVERS AND FIREMEN. The terrible railway disaster nt Ongaruo has drawn attention to the conditions of work and the responsibilities undertaken by engine drivers and firemen, especially on our express trains. Ii is evident that the Engine Drivers, Firemen, and Cleaners ’ Association were giving attention to the question before that sad accident. Hero is an extract from an article published in that association’s journal previous to the accident: —“The time is not far distant when the management of Stale railways will give greater consideration to the disparity between the responsibility and wages of locomotive men. The mechanical appliances for prevention of accidents which add to :ho responsibility and worry of a locomotive man arc i Westing house brake, electric train tablet, lock and block signalling, automatic, signalling. These have all liecn added within 1 recent years, and have keen the undoing of many engineers. A died to those mechanical accident prevention appliances, the locomotive man lias to contend with increased sice of engine, increased speed of trains, increased tonnage of trains. . . In countries where private companies run tlie railway; the locomotive man is invariably paid 130 per cent, over the basic or living wage; but in countries where railways' are Sta;o concerns they have been slowly decreasing from the standard until they do not register 50 per cent, over this' basis of adjustment. It I might bo that companies may bo made | bankrupt by incllicient locomotive men, land that State railways can draw on (ho, | people themselves when they arc hard hit. | Be the reason what it may, a self-evident I fact remains—New Zealand locomotive I men aro not paid a wage commensurate | with tliQ skill and responsibility demanded !by their employers.” * * * * WAGES AND PROFITS. Henry Ford, tho American motor car | manufacturer, on beinj asked how ho could pay his workmen such high wages, produce cars so cheaply, and make a , profit, replied that high wages can be paid in proportion to tho amount of waste cut ; [ out; and that the prim of tho finished I article cheapened in proportion to tho 1 efficiency of the methods used in produc- : I tion. The efficiency of the workman is ; I not in tho amount of energy lie utilises, I 1 but in its application to the host use.