THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 18589, 21 March 1924, Page 3

THE LABOR MOVEMENT

[By Veteran.] Brief contributions on matters with reference to the Labor Movement art invited THE MAH OF TO-MORROW. Anyone wishing to get an insight into the position of the Labor Party in British polities, and tho reason for a party which is divided into different sections being kept together, should read a book recently published, written by “Iconoclast.” This writer shows that J. Ramsay MacDonald is the man who has kept tho Labor Party from going to extremes, and that he is likely to keep the party together and show that it is ns capable as any other party of governing tho British Empire. Since “ Iconoclast’s ” book was published Mr Ramsay MacDonald has been made Prime Minister, and has formed a Government which is likely to make as good a showing as many previous Governments. a # * ■» MONEY WAGES VERSUS REAL WAGES, In order to understand tho wages question it is necessary to distinguish between money wages and real wages. The money wage is the amount in the pay envelope. Tho real wage is what that money will buy. When money wages remain'tho same, real wages may change from time to time, because the prices of food, clothing, rent, etc., rise or fall. And, on the other hand, to maintain a given real wage in a period of changing prices it is necessary to alter the money wage as the prices change. When unions demand that money wages be raised because tho cost of living has gone up, they are not in reality asking for a wage increase at all. They are merely asking that real wages ho kept up to tho former level. If money wages were constantly lowered in accordance with changes in the cost of living, there never would be any changes in real wages. The purchasing power and standard of living of tho wage-earners would remain exactly the same year after year, decade after decade, century after century. It is therefore incorrect, in any real sense, to speak of such changes ns wage changes at all. The method of adjusting money wages according to changes in the cost of living is a device to keep real wages at a fixed level, wherever they happened to be when the process started. It has no bearing whatever on the question of whether that level is high enough or whether it could, considering everything, bo raised.

It is perfectly sound for unions to demand increases equal to tho increase in th,e cost of living when prices nre going up. If they do not do so the real wages of their members suffer a reduction—and that, too, in a time of prosperity. But it is extremely nnsonnd to make this the only basis of wage adjustment. If a living wage were not being paid, or if tho business could afford higher wages, money wages ought to be raised faster than the cost of living. On (he other hand, it is usually unsound for employers to demand wage reductions equal to the drop in the cost of living when prices are going down. Such reductions may lie necessary in extraordinary cases, because of financial inability to do anything else. Tint there are few cases indeed whole real wages are as j high as they ought to be when judged on other grounds, such as the amount j needed for a decent standard of living, or i the profitableness of the industry, or the I increased productivity of the nation. And it is usually much easier for wage-earners to increase real wages when prices are falling than when they nre rising. ft ft ft TRAINING AND WET-NURSING. A Dunedin employer is reported n.s saving ; —“I want apprentices, but 1 don’t see my way to wet-nurse them.” A reporter of the. Wellington ‘ Post,’ quoting tho above statement, said that employers were not keen on indenturing apprentices, because tho conditions imposed by law gave the masters considerable trouble. It is probably correct that these conditions are onerous, but they have been held to be necessary. The employer is not the only person concerned in a. contract of apprenticeship. The lad and his parents must also bo considered, and there have been complaints in the past that the obligations on the masters were not always properly observed, with the result that journeymen have been turned out who were skilled tradesmen in name only. Of course, employers nre still free to say : “ We will not, be bothered with apprentices.” In that case they will he. the greatest sufferers, ns they have been under the old conditions which produced few tradesmen, and some of these incompetent. Employers cannot expect, to obtain their skilled labor without trouble. Parents will not apprentice their boys if they nro not to bo trained, .and n system has not yet been devised for New Zealand which will relieve. the master tradesmen of the training task and plans it in tho hands of a. school board. Conditions of apprenticeship were considered last year by a committee repro- I sentative of, all parties. That committee was unablo to recommend the abolition of tho system. Therefore, it remains, and it is the duty of employers, as well as to their advantage, that they should accept tho; system and help to make it efficient. i ft ft e ft j BRICKLAYERS IN THE MAKING. | For some- time past we have, been kept posted up in the difficulties of securing bricklayers in New South Wales, and there lias been a determined move in the direction of training adults in the trade, owing to the scarcity of apprentices, and the time spent in the period required by law and by custom in turning out efficient tradesmen. From an exchange I gather that the advocates of _the system of turn-; ing out tradesmen “ while you wait ” are not having all their own way in the parent; State of Australia. When the Nov/ South Wales Board of Trade proceeded to hear several nppliea 1 Hons from the Master Builders’ Association ; for permission to apprentice adults to the bricklaying trade, Judge Booby read a report which said that in the opinion of architects the quality of bricklayers being turned out in the “ hurry-up ” schools failed (o justify first-class buildings Vicing constructed in brick. ;

The unduly high labor cost, of buildings, delays in completion, faulty work, and ten- | deucy to substitute concrete for brick con-; struction were all duo in l:\gc measure to flic decline of skill of journeymen bricklayer?. 'l'llo report added (hat it was essential tlint the skill of bricklayers and others in the building trade, should not be allowed h! deteriorate, because inferior or inadequate housing menaced the. physical, and moral health of the people. | Referring to the school for the inten-i sive training of unapprenticed persons con- I ducted by t.iie Master Builders’ As'ncia- i tinn, the President, of the Hoard (.Judge Becby) said the conditions were unsatisfactory. After three months’ training the trainees were allowed to go out as journeymen without further concern for the interests of the public. The attitude of the association was that employers would not employ the men unless they were .able to make their wages. After an elaborate, and protiactod inquiry the hoard had come! to the decision, in the light of evidence taken, that the skill of the bricklaying trade, could not be acquired by young men who might enjoy the advantages of twelve weeks’ intensive training in a shorter period than two years. Judge, Reebv commented on tho pro vail- j ing decline of skill as a result of the present method of training, and added: “ Tho board cannot, consistent, with its pronouncements in the earlier cases, consent to the applications now before it on (he, ground (lia-t it would be in the interests of the trade to do so. These, applications, because of tho failure of master builders and the association to take up in the past year the ninety apprentices responsibly estimated as necessary to recruit the Iracie, or, indeed, even one-third of that number, are in no sense intended to provide for the needs of the years during which normal apprentices are graduating up to joumeymanship. Apprenticeship, and TUi V the trade prospects of many years *

to come, is, in fact-, lining sacrificed to the exigencies of nn industrial conflict of only temporary significance. It is for this reason that tho board regards these applications as being, in (he words of tho determination in the Phillips case, ‘ part of ? scheme to secure dilution of labor,’ ”