RAILWAY W.E.A. CLASS

Evening Star, Issue 22952, 9 May 1938, Page 1

RAILWAY W.E.A. CLASS

The second meeting, of the Railway branch of the W.E.A. was held in the Hillside Social Hall, when there was a fair attendance of members. The subject of the lecture, ‘ Talks With Workers on Workers’ Control,’ provided scope for .plenty of discussion. The two opening, papers by Mr Elliott and Mr W. Aston proved good contributions. \

■ Mr Elliott, in opening, asked: Should workers elect their own bosses? and answered this in the negative, the following reasons:—That workers would be slow to, recognise outstanding ability, fv?, thpv. would most likely elect man ability. ; That a, boss" who would he popular with the employer would -be unpopular with the men, owing to the fact that he would want the most work for the least pay, while the men would want the most pay for the least output. A good type of boss tries to be fair to employer and men. Again, that 95 per cent, of the men want the pay of a boss, but not the responsibility, and this would make it hard for men to select their own boss.

Mr Aston considered that workers should select their own boss, as he did not require to give the same amount of supervision as in the past, and the boss’s work was changed to a sort of advisory function. All sports bodies elected their own captains or bosses, who were 'unquestionably obeyed, and volunteer companies formed during the Maori war elected their own leaders. Workers generally, had a better idea of the qualifications for a boss, and the tendency to victimisation would be removed. .

Ml Brailsford, the tutor, in opening up the subject, quoted instances in the Public Works of some gangs earning less than 16s per day, while others were earning over 30s, and considered that men should have the power to raise and also reduce rates. In Russia if a workers’ output was too low > they penalised him, but encouraged high production. Workers would make many unwise selections at first, but with experience would soon select the right men. Mr Brailsford gave instances of large businesses where shop committees composed of representatives of the employers and workers, discussed questions affecting the whole management. Railway work-, ers and others under the State took a lively interest in the problem of workers’ control. They realised that the simple elimination of the motive of private profit by no means ensured freedom from boss-control. They found that the great size of national enterprises tended to overshadow individual interests. Any special individual effort was likely to go unnoticed, personal grievances received scant attention, as a rule; suggestions for improvements might never get beyond the first small boss. Hence a realisation of the need for a control based on the workers’ mutual interests, in small and larger groups. In private enterprise in this country the workers seemed hardly to have begun to think about workers’ control. Trade unionism on the one hand and a general feeling of revolt against the monetary or economic system seemed to occupy the minds of many thinking workers, and little consideration was given to the widespread propaganda for workers’ control or to the experiments of workshop committees and other forms of experimentation in Britain and elsewhere. The selection of officers resulted as follows Chairman, Mr J. Saunders; vice-chairman, Mr G. Livingstone; secretary, Mr A. E. B. Ward; librarian, Mr L. Turner. . The usual discussion followed the meeting.