WORKERS AND OWNERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16493, 7 March 1914, Page 10

WORKERS AND OWNERS.

When Mr G. W. Russell was addressing his constituents on Thursday evening he mentioned co-partner-ship and profit-sharing schemes as providing possible solutions of tho industrial problem. Wo should like to see some of the dominion’s public men making a serious study cf this phase of a vitally important subject and helping the employers as a body to appreciate what ' has been achieved already along experimental lines in other countries. The profit-sharing plan adopted by the Ford Motor Company of America, which we described briefly tho other day, is by no means the most’ socialistic of tho attempts to give workers something moro than a wage interest in the processes of production. Tho optical instruments bearing the famous name of Zeiss, to quote an example from Germany, are manufactured in a vast fattory where every worker is a part owner, and nobody is an employer. Nearly a quarter of a century ngo, when the business founded by Karl Zeiss in 18G6 had grown to very largo dimensions, the head of the firm relinquished his personal ownership of the works in favour of the ‘‘Karl Zeiss Institution,” a corporation composed of the persons in his service. Ho endowed tho Institution with nearly the whole of his personal fortune and became himself one of tho managing officials, subject to the regulations ho himself had framed. The aims of the new body wore stated to be (1) the continuation of the industry 'and tho consolidation of the financial interests for the benefit of the whole body of workers; (2) the fulfilment of social ideals in a way which a single owner could not guarantee for the future after his control of the works ceased; (3) the development of the personal character of the workers by means of improved education and training, and the encouragement of the moans of education for the benefit of tho people of Jena. The Institution is governed by a board of managers, who do not receive any share cf tho profits and may not increase their incomes by accepting any outside employment Their salaries are not permitted to exceed ton times the wages of tho average worker of more than twenty-four years of-ago. The workers receive a gninimum wage and enjoy practical security of employment, being entitled to compensation in event of dismissal. The managers decide what portion cf the profits shall be distributed among the workers, they themselves being entirely disinterested, and what portion shall be used to conserve the business or assist education. The Institution has provided more than £200,000 for the University of Jena, until it is now one of the best equipped centres of learning in the world- “ Ernst Abbe’s scheme has weathered twenty-two years and is to-day more successful than ever,” wrote a recent visitor to the Zeiss works. “It includes many features which are. surprisingly ’ different from ordinary English practice and most remarkable of all is the frank surrender of the power of. dismissal. Abbo, the philosopher, social reformer and "business man has coolly introduced into one of tho best managed businesses in the world a feature which a little too readily wo are disposed to regard as the weak spot in government or municipal employment.” Management in the Zeiss works is responsible leadership, not possessive control, and it has produced high efficiency and commercial success without the stimulus of personal profit or “private enterprise.” Those facts should have some meaning for New Zealand.