THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 22

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES. ; By J. T. Paul. , PIECEWORK RATES. Chief Judge Dethridge, in the Federal .Arbitration Court at Melbourne, announced that he had adopted a reinunera- j tion basis of 3s 6d an hour as the objective when determining piecework rates. He pointed out that a. former president of the court, Judge Powers, had declared in ( favour of piecework rates that gave an averaged skilled man average earnings of £3OO a year—£o weekly in a year of 30 weeks. His objective was £332 10s for a year of 50 weeks. Assuming that the average employee obtained 38 hours’ employment weekly, this represented 4d an hour more than the figures adopted by Judge . Powers. WOMEN IN BRITISH FACTORIES. According tp a reprt issued by the British Home Office women’s part in industry in Britain has been steadily increasing. In the textile industries the proportion ' of women has risen from 60.53 per cent, in 1890 to 63,89 per cent, in 1928. In the non-textile group, which includes many I new or newly-organised industries, the i increase has been from 15.51 per cent, to 27.09 per cent. . - ‘ The report shows that the general practice ;s for the men to do the heavy work j and that which requires training! and for the women to do the light work and that readily learned. In the majority of cases women do not continue in industry after marriage. That 1 fact makes them unwilling to spend much time on training, and for" the same reason 1 employers are unwilling to train people they are likely to lose. i LABOUR AND DRINK. Probably the most exciting debate at the recent State Labour Conference in Victoria (writes the correspondent of the Australian Worker) was that around amending the plank on the liquor question reading ‘ Socialisation of the liquor traffic with a view to prohibition.” An ’ amendment favouring submitting the issues of prohibition. State ownership, and reduction to a poll every three years ! (compulsory voting and simple majority) '• was advanced by the prohibitionists, but I was, rejected By 124 votes to 71. The motion to make the plank “ the nationali- I’ sation of the .drink traffic" was not favoured by the strong anti-prohibitionist side of the argument, which rallied all its', torces to secure the carrying of an amendment deleting the words “ with a view I to prohibition from the plank, and then victorious carried by a statutory majority (actually 126 votes to 69) the following , as the prohibition of the liquor traffic does not involve any working class principle,, and the constant, dissension engendered in the party menaces the solidii ■ p , ar *'J r * fckia conference declares that the party can.no longer be used as the battleground for conflicting capitalist and that the problems connected with the liquor trade can be solved only in the same' manner as that of industry : as a whole by the socialisation of industry. The fesult, it; should be noted, was due butto e th/d tO - an^' proh - ibition Be ntiment, ' nut to the desire for unity of attitude, AUSTRALIAN BASIC WAGE. 1 n j eral w ? ge figneea. adjusted in df C uin7 nC if u the Harvester judgment of 1907, have been prepared by the* Mel--0b ° Ur t h- T fi rades Hall-Bureau of StSdffis , 0Q lx, e figures issued by the' Common, wealth Statistician. The figures disclose • Ba a Thp U r»w de0 + rea6e -n h r ugh “ ut Auatra--1 at ?L he new rates Wlll be as follow: £4 6s a week-decrease of i Sydney, £4 12s —decrease of 3s 6d £3 17s—decrease of 3s 6d. Adelaide, £4 of 3s. Perth, £4 2s 6d—decrease of Is. Hobart, £4 4s—decrease of 2fc 6d. A-iJlf weighted average for 30 towns in Australia, uppn which the cost of living IfoT £4 decrease* o? ri • Ctlat °/. tlle Blx capital cities is i4 rnl 8 ’ representing a decrease of 3s 6d. Ine reduction in the weekly wages of the members of some of the principal unions will be as follows: Australian Railways Union, 4sl Engineers, 4s. Enginedrivers and firemen, 4b, Carpenters in mixed industries and waterfront shops, 3s 6d. 1 Timber workers, 3s. < clpthing and alliied trades ■ Tally clerks, 3s. ■ Merchant Service Guild (Bay Harbour ! and river vessels), 4s. 1 Deep-sea engineers and deep-sea mer- ' chants, 12s 6d per month, i Waterside workers, lid per hour or 5s i on per week of 44 hours. | The assistant-secretary of the Melbourne i Trades Hall. Council (Mr A. E. Monk) , said that union officials were astounded at , the decrease in the Federal basic wage. It was the biggest decrease since the quarterly adjustment on the cost of living ! figures had been' made. The adjustments I were, however, a recognised principle, and i the unions had no option but to accept i them. THE FIVE-DAY WEEK. In Americh it is estimated that a ! million workpeople do not work on Satur- 1 day. Moat employers who have adopted the five-day week have found that output ] per week has been maintained or even in- ■ creased, according to a recent report by ; the United States National Industrial 1 Conference Board, an employers’ research 1 organisation. ' . ■ i The board’s report stated that of 127 plants which reported 25.2 per cent, actu- . ally experienced an increase in weekly production, while 50.4 per cent, maintained their former output following the introduction of the five-day week, as com- 1 pared with that under former five-dnd-pne-half and six-day week schedules. Thus ' nearly 70 per cent, of the companies in . thisi grpjip are said to be obtaining greater , production per hour than under tne longer working schedule. 1 The-report finds various economies at-' ■ tributed to five-day week operation, such as elimination of uneconomical overhead cost of operating a plant on Saturday half-days; higher output per hour over . the week, due to the fact that output on Saturday half-days output was generally . found to.be below standard; improvement in attendance and punctuality on the part or employees. ; In other words, the employers seem to have found that the constant process >of , speed-up has absorbed practically all the extra expense of shorter hours, to the extent that many of them have benefited substantially from the five-day week. The report, therefore, concludes that the evi- i dcnce it has secured from; the establishments it has studied “removes the fiveday week from the status of a radical and impractical administrative experi- ' ment and places it among the plans which. < however revolutionary they may appear ; to some, have demonstrated both praiticabaility and usefulness under certain circumstances.” | THE WORLD’S CO-OPERATORS. . The ’international Labour Office has issued a publication Containing information on co-operative organisations. One i portion is a directory of the 728 international or national co-operative organisations covering 48 countries. Information as to the volume' of trade is interesting, the various international values being stated in dollars. In 1928 the total sales (i.e., sales to members and sales of the produce of members) of the ' societies affiliated to these organisations, including tho.sq in Russia, amounted to no loss than 10.000.000,000d01, while those of the central organisations themselves amounted to over 6,000,000,000d01. The second table, which relates to co-opera-tive banks and credit societies, shows that the total turnover of 33 banks in 1928 was 50.000,000,000d01, while that of the credit societies affiliated _ to 74 central organisations of such societies amounted to more than 18.500,000.000c101. The figures relating to membership of co-operative organisations are no less striking. The information supplied shows, that at the end of 1028 these . organisations, which cover 39' countries (not including Soviet Russia), had an aggregate membership of over 39,500,000, as compared with about 35.500,000 in 1925 —an increase of 11 per cent. The total membership of all co-operative organisations in Soviet Russia at the same date, according to official returns, was more . than 35,000,000. I •The sum of these two membership figures—74.soo,ooo—does not by any means represent the total number of cooperators in the world. At the same time, taken in conjunction with the statistics, it is an impressive indication of the immense scope of the co-operative movement at the present day.

k REAL WAGES IN RUSSIA. The Central Committee of the Communist Party recently, adopted a resolution relating to the estimates for the year 1929-1930, iVhich required an increase in real wages by at least 12 per cent, over those of the previous year. The increase was to be carried out by ra'isiug nominal wages by 9 per cent., and reducing the cost of living by 3 per cent.; this latter measure was considered essential. In order to ensure that the instructions of the. party shall be carried out, the General Couueil of Trade Unions and the Commissariat of Labour published two regulations, which are summarised below. A regulation of the General Council of Trade Unions provides for the institution of 15 inspection brigades, consisting of responsible officials of_ the trade unions and co-operative societies, to be sent immediately into the most important industrial areas. The principal duties of these brigades will be to draw the attention of the working masses and of the trade unions and co-operative societies to the necessity of completely replacing private trade by the co-operative system; to take measures for the reduction of the retail prices of articles of immediate consumption; to combat waste apd damage to goods in commerce; to hasten the rationalisation of the commercial system; to put an end to the necessity for waiting outside shops; and to improve the working of .workers’ canteens. A circular issued early this yea’r by the Commissariat of Labour states that in the sphere of labour the principal task is to increase the real value ’of wages by at least 12 per cent, as compared witli the previous year. In view of the necessity of reducing production costs in the proportions required by the estimates, real wages must not be raised exclusively by increases in the nominal wage, but also by reduction in retail prices. The organa of the Commissariat of Labour and the trade unions must take the most vigorous steps to ensure that the purchases of the workers in industrial districts may bfe entirely covered by the co-operative movement. The co-operative movement, on its side, must 4 redupe its selling prices by lowering -incidental expenses through the rationalisation of its commercial sj'etem*