BACK TO 1900 AND FURTHER.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2125, 17 May 1922, Page 5

BACK TO 1900 AND FURTHER.

THE LABOUR VIEWPOINT. ON THE WAGES QUESTION. (By J. McCombs, M.P.) If the workers are to regain the relative wage positions which they held in 1814, or even in 1900 they must do something more than defend their present standard of living. They must io something more than resist the Employers' Association's demand that wages shall be reduced faster than the cost of living decreases. The workers must insist that the Arbitration Court sha'l pursue the same "goslow" policy on the down grade as it undoubtedly did on the up-grade. Wages were not increased in proportion to the increase in the cost of living and should not now bs reduced in proportion vo cost of living decreases. If wages should fall in proportion to the decrease in the cost of living, and if we ever get back to 1914 prices, then wages will be actuillv, as well as nominally, 20 per cent 'lelow 1914 rates. Wages are actually 20 per. cent, .below .1914 rates today, measured in purchasing power. R33AIN LOST POSITIONS. To regain their lost positions the workers must have the 20 per cent, which they are short in wages restored to them. To take skilled workers first —Carpenters and Plumbers were paid 1/6 per hour in 1914; in 1917 they received 1/S, or an 11 per cent. increa3e «n wag 33 to meet an ascertained increase in the co3t of living of 26 per cent. In May, 1919, they received a substantial increase, which, with bonuses, brought their remuneration up to l/10d per • houn • representing a 22 per cent, increase to meet the thm increase in the cost of living of 46 per cent. Thus the workers were short 24 per cent, and, if wages were reduced from that point in proportion to cost of living decreases, and we got back to 1914 nrices, there would be a 46 per cent decrease in wages as against a 22 per cent, increase on the up-grade. If "tare" justice is to be done to the workers, wages must not decrease in pvoportioi to tho movement in the co*t of living, for '.he simple reason that thiy were not so increased. The following table will probably make the whole position clear;-^-

CARPENTERS AND PLUMBERS. Wages Prices Per cent. Per cent. Increase. Increase. 15117 11 26 Mar. 1919 .... 22 46 Mar. 1920 .... 50 63 Sept. 1920 54 <» Mar. 1922 47 67 The above table shows in a striking manner how during the ■ last eight years, mostly years of prosperity, the Arbitration Court has forced the standard of the skilled worker down and down until it is now 20 per cent, below the 1914 level. With a per C'-mt. increase in wages and a 67 per cent increase in the cost of living It is easy to sec that if wages were to fall in proportion to prices, then when we got back to 1914 figures, if we ever did, wages would be nominally as well as actually 20 per cent, below 1914 rates. Heal wages for skilled workers are to-day 20 per cent, below 1914 rates. WAGES BACK TO. .1.9.0.0 AND FURTHER. Witn an ascertained increase in the cost of living of 67 per cent, it is an easy matter to calculate what would be the purchasing power of 2/2Jd today as compared with 1914. The facts are that l/33d would purchase on the average in 1914 what it requires 2/2 Jd to purchase to-day. carpenters and Plumbers were receiving 1/Gd per hour in 1914. To-day they are receiving the equivalent ot l/32d. The wages paid to carpenters in 1897 were 1/3 per hour, and plumbers were receiving l/3d per hour in 1900. The cost of living in 1900 was 18 per cent. cheaper than- in .1922 Hence the equivalent of l/3?d in 1914 would only have the purchasing power of 1/ld in 1900. Carpenters and Plumbers were receiving l/3d in 1900 and hence were better off then to the extent of 2d per hour, than they are to-day. As a believer m the principles of conciliation and arbitration I am sorry to have to say these things, and I can only express the hope that the appeal to reason will be more successful in the future. There is no disguising the fact that the interests of the workers have been sadly neglected during the last 8 years and more. " In order merely to regain the relative wage position of 1914. measured in purchasing power, skilled workers would to-day have to receive 2/6 per hour, and at the price peak they should have, been awarded considerably more. Some skilled workers, such as those in the Furniture trade, and the Engineers, were receiving only l/4*d in 1914. but they were working under Awards which dated back to 1911 and 1922. The equivalent rates in 1914 would be at least l/6d. SEMI-SKILLED. The wages paid in what is known as the best semi-skilled class are as follows: . Wages Prices Per cent. Per cent. ' Increase. Increase. 19 !*• Mar. 1919 ... 24 46 Mar. 1920 .... 51 63 Sept. 1920 56 78 Mar. 1922 48 67 The wages paid in this class formed the basis of calculation for all bonuses given under the 1918 legislation. . UNSKILLED WORKERS. Most of the workers in this class were given l/2d per hour in Awards made in 1914. Some Awards made n 19U and 1912 which were current in 1914 awarded 1/lJd in this class. Some of those who were receiving l/ljd in 1914, are to-day,, as a result a'f the 5/ cut, only receiving 1/Sd per hour, or a 49 per cent, increase in wages to meet a 67 per cent, increase in the cost of living. Wages Prices Per cent. Per cent. Increase. Increase. 1914 - Mar. 1919 .... 29 46 Mar. 1920 .... 57 63 Sept. Isf2o .... 621 78 Mar. 1922 .... 53J 67 As' the bonuses were computed on a higher basic wage than in the above class the percentage increases in wages in this class are greater than in the other classes, but the wages increases are stilj. a long way. fcehin&.iljs.price,

increases and should not have been lowered. FAIR STANDARD OF LIVING. As the legislation of last session requires the Court not to reduce wages below what is required "to maintain a fair standard of living," it was surely hardly contemplated, or expected, that the Arbitration Court would £ix as a "fair" standard a wage which is 14.19 and 20 below the minimum for a living wage for 1913-14. A DATUM LINE SUGGESTED. The Wellington Unions are of opinion that the immediate minimum demand should be the restoration of the 5/ bonus. There should then be no reduction in wages until prices —-"all groups"—fall to an average increase "of 50 per cent, over 1914 prices; and then only a reduction of 3/, reducing the 2/13d per hour to 2/ld. A datum line could then be fixed for a semi-skilled worker at 2/ld per hour corr/sponding with a new wageprice index number of 1000 which could be known as the "Datum Index." Then for every rise or fall of 19 points wages should rise or fall one farthing per hour. This would secure to the workers the 1914 standard of comfort and open "Hie Way for eventually securing a wage sufficient "to maintain a fair standard of living." It is quite, idle to maintain that the rates of wages asked for 1 cannot be paid, because, their equivalents were being paid in 1914 when the value of our exports and our total private wealth were each only onehalf! of what they are to-day. If the workers cannot immediately be paid a wage sufficient "to maintain a fair standard of living," and it is not admitted that they cannot, then the least they should receive is the equivalent of 1914 rates, and industry and commerce, bank rates, interest and land values, can adjust themselves accordingly.