AUSTRALIAN WAGES

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1945, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN WAGES

BASIC SUM INCREASE DEMAND FOR INQUIRY SYDNEY, September 17. Arising out of trade union, forebodings of general strikes if the Federal Government wipes out the war loading of wages, a suggestion has been made that the Government should start an inquiry to establish a new basis for the basic wage. The war leading, which puts from 2/- to 6/- a week on workers’ earnings, was given to compensate for the extra effort the workers were expected to give during the war. Now it is suggested that war loading payments should cease, and this has already been done in some cases. As the Sydney “Daily Telegraph says, naturally the workers do not want to lose the war loading. They know that the cost of living is up far beyond the 221- oer cent, officially estimated as a war-time increase in prices, so they want the war loading to be included in their basic wage, but this demand is only part oi the larger and more important one put forward by the President of the Australasian Council of Trade Unions (Mr P. J. Clarey). He argues that we need a new set of standards for fixing the basic wage, which has become a hopelessly abstract and confused concept since it was first established as a yardstick for measuring the value of labour in AustraJ.i ci "Originally—in 1907—the basic wage was fixed to provide “a frugal standard of comfort for a family of five.” Now the dominant idea in the mind of the Court, when it hears evidence and delivers judgment on this issue, is, “What can the industry pay?” to provide that minimum. In 1940 Chief Judge Beeby, of the Arbitration Court, pointed out that the wage was not based upon family requirements, but upon the health of the national economy, and he came to the conclusion that the wage was then sufficient to maintain only the wife, husband, and one child, compared with a family group of five in 1907. £ Mr. Clarey s argument in favour of a new standard for computing the wage is that prosperity depends on high wages and purchasing power. He says industry and employment will expand, increasing, the output of commodities and services. To buy these the worker must have a margin of wages left over after he has paid for the minimum necessities of the “frugal” existence. If he has not got this margin and cannot buy them industry will not be able to continue exploiting the techniques which will enable it to turn out goods and services in luxurious abundance. “It is all bunkum to say that the basic wage is intended to provide for basic needs,” says Mr. Clarey. By the basic needs he means what the civilisation of our time considers to be the basic needs for a reasonably full living. He means that as production increases the volume of goods which were once rare and luxurious, the general standards should rise. The “Daily Telegraph supports his argument, saying that modern mass production cannot work without a big market. What industry can pay is determined by what it can sell, and what it san sell is determined by what the mass of the consumers can buv. In its own selfish interests. therefore, industry must take a broader view of its ability to pay.

MINERS’ STOP-WORK MEETINGS (Rec. noon) SYDNEY, Sept. 10. One-day stop-work meetings will be held by all coal miners throughout Australia between September 26 and October 3 to adopt decisions reached at. a recent miners’ convention in Sydney. . . At these meetings, miners officials intend to impress on the men that the fight for better, conditions should be conducted sensibly and by the union as a whole, and not by an individual lodge or members. The miners will be told of the conventions recommendations that no strike pay should be issued unless the stoppage is authorised by the Union.. The general secretary of the Miners’ Federation, Mr. Grant, said that, the speakers at the proposed stopwork meetings would also deal extensively with, the proposals of the miners’ convention for the nationalisation of the industry, its mechanisation and a suggested five-year ap'reement with the mine-owners. There were strikes in seven collieries in New South Wales yesteiday and loss in production was 4j3U tons ol coal.

FEMININE HEADGEAR. (Rec. noon). 1Q CANBERRA, September 18. A Price Regulations Order fixing maximum prices for women s, maids and girls’ headwear of all descriptions has been issued. The principa feature of the order is that without the special approval ol the Deputy Prices Commissioner no h „J c , an ,J? sold at a price in excess of 90/- and no renovation can be chaiged at a price higher than 21/-.”