THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21580, 27 February 1932, Page 20

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES By J. T. Paul. The only happy nations, the only happy people, are the ones with faith. In this tired, disillusioned world every Briton is to be envied. After three years I had come to England innocently expecting—if I expected ■ anything—to find sadness and depression. What I discovered was a glorious surprise, wholly unanticipated. I found an England emerged from a . great crisis stronger than she had been before. I had no awareness of hysteria—that hysteria which took possesion of America in her prosperity and now in her depression —but of solid faith.— Louis Bromficld, American novelist, after a recent visit to England. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE. The Federal Cabinet has decided that Australia will not be represented at the International Labour , Conference .at Geneva in April. The Attorney-general and Minister for Industry (Mr Latham) explained that the decision had been made primarily owing to the need tor strict economy. There were, too, other factors that had influenced the. decision. trade unionism and the , depression. Some indication of how the depression has hit unions may be gathered from the experience of a South Australian Jjwon whose members depend upon the building trade. In boom times—that is, the period preceding the depression t iis particular union had an income, of about £6OO per half-year; to-day it is less than £SO. One might be pardoned lor calling that a collapse. Worse still, there does not appear to be any chance ot a revival in the building trade; and last, and worst of 1 all (says the Labour paper containing this paragraph), many people appear to be content to leave things a they are. LABOUR PARTY’S FAILURE. Under this heading the New Leader, official organ of the British Independent Labour Party, says:— The most disappointing feature ot this Parliament has been the absence of any indication that the Labour Party has learned the lessons of the failure of the Labour Government and of the electoral defeat. It is still, living in the atmosphere of compromise created by tne legislation and administration of tne Labour Ministers, and it has shown no realisation of the need for a revolutionary Socialist policy to meet the rapidlydeclining condition of Capitalism and 11 desperate plight of the working class. This failure of the official Labour Partymuch more than any difficulty about Standing Orders, is making increasing numbers of Socialists within the I.L.F. despair of the possibility of future cooperation with the Labour Party. The Leader also has the following comment in a later issue:— The difference of policy between the I.L.P and the Labour Party is clearly indicated in the pronouncements with which its leaders have heralded the inauguration of the Labour Party Million Members’ campaign. The Socialism in Our Time” tone of the speeches of Mr Arthur Henderson and Sir Stafford Cripps at the Scarborough Conference has gone. We are back to the old political opportunism of gradualist days. Despite the present feeling of antagonism to Mr MacDonald, we do not rule out the possibility of bis return to the Labour Partji Mr MacDonald is a master at staging crises, and an. “ heroic Labour attitude on bis part in such a crisis would break down much of the prejudice which now exists in the Labour 1 arty. But, for our part, it would make no difference even if Mr MacDonald reverted wholeheartedly to’ his old policy. That policy damned the Labour Party .as a Socialist Party long before he left it.

LABOUR IN NEW SOUTH WALES. The latest issue of the Australian Wotker publishes an editorial on the byelection for East Sydney. The Lang Labour Party, which is referred to as the Graves-Garden executive, is opposed to the official Labour Party, whose nominee was at the bottom of the poll. The editorial concludes on this note: “The Graves-Garden executive believed it could capture the seats of the 15 Federal parliamentarians whom it expelled because of their refusal to accept the Lang Plan and kiss the rod of Goulburn street dictation. It counted, one may be sure, on the insignificant Lang group going back to Canberra with its numbers considerably augmented. “ How calamitously were those expectations blighted! Most of the coveted seats were lost to the Nationalists. Three members of the group fell victims to their own treachery. And, when the battle was over, though it bad added a couple of new’recruits, the group could muster no more than four! “ So that, even from the GravesGarden standpoint, the stabbing to death of the Scullin Government had been in vain. “ In vain had been the carefully calculated conspiracy to rob loyal Labour members of the seats thad had won and were holding for the Labour movement. Most of the would-be usurpers, ravenously eager for the spoils of a fratricidal crime, were crushingly defeated, and the internecine struggle ended in the seats being snatched away by Labour’s enemies. A dismal and a guilty record! “Moreover, so demoralised,by all this have our once solid ranks become that were a general election now to be forced upon us in the State the result would almost certainly be disastrous. “What’s wrong with us? Can we do nothing to cure ourselves of this mania for dissension ? Have the gods grown tired of us, and dropped the germ of selfdestruction into our brains? “ These questions are thrust upon thoughtful Labourites with renewed imperativeness by what has happened in East Sydney.” INTERNATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT. The Unemployment Committee of the Governing body of the International Labour Office, consisting of four members chosen from each group (Governments, employers and workers) in the governing body, held a meeting in Geneva during December. After a full discussion of the unemployment situation, with special reference to the possibility of arriving at a better distribution of working hours by international agreements, the committee approved a draft resolution for consideration by the governing body at its next session. The substance of this resolution is given below. Recognising that the crisis can only be solved by the adoption of economic, financial and political measures which are outside the competence of the International Labour Organisation, the committee urged Governments in the first place actively to explore every possibility of increasing employment both nationally and through the international organisations. and urged in particular that the international action which has been undertaken with regard to public works should be pushed forward with the greatest possible energy. In conformity with the resolution adopted by the governing body at its session of October, 1931, the committee devoted special attention to “ the possibility of arriving at a more satisfactory arrangement of hours of work by international agreement, whether general or by industry.” It took note of the fact that in all industrial countries had been made spontaneously in the majority of undertakings for the purpose of keeping in employment the largest possible number of workers in spite of reduced production, and it drew the attention of all industrial communities to various measures, some of which have already been applied either completely or partially. In the first place, the committee considered that in present circumstances it was more than ever desirable that the international conventions on hours of work, and in particular the Washington Convention on the eight-hour day, sliquld be ratified, and that in any case, pending ratification, their principles should be,

or continue to be, universally applied, so as to constitute a solid framework for all the arrangements contemplated. Overtime should be abolished. In exceptional cases in which that was impossible owing to technical difficulties, seasonal requirements, or the necessity to comply with a time limit in executing orders subject to a penalty for nonfulfilment, it should be reduced to a strict minimum. Whenever the technical conditions and the composition of the staff allowed, the hours of work of each worker should be diminished in preference to discharging workers. This diminution might be brought about by reducing either the number of hours per day or, preferably, the number of days per week. It might also be achieved by a periodical rotation of workers over a period of weeks. The committee drew attention to the measures taken in certain countries to facilitate this practice by using unemployment benefits, to be paid during the period of idleness. In spite of serious difficulties, which, however, it would seem possible to overcome, and subject to technical commercial and financial possibilities, the principle of diminishing temporarily the hours of work of each worker should be adopted in those undertakings which are working at normal capacity, so as to make it possible to engage unemployed workers in those undertakings. With a view to redistributing employment among as large a number of workers as possible, while at the same time preserving the satisfactory working of the establishment and maintaining the individual earnings of the workers at an adequate level, it appeared to the committee that under the conditions of the present crisis the best results had been obtained by reducing the weekly working period to a figure approximately to 40 hours, distributed over the week by different methods, but preferably distributed equally over five days when the technical conditions allowed. In order to mitigate the possible reduction in weekly earnings, the committee thought it desirable to draw attention to the fact that in certain countries measures had been adopted to make up for this reduction, at least in part, and that this had been facilitated by a decrease in social charges due 'to the re-employment of a certain number, of the wholly unemployed. The committee recalled that, without wishing to take the initiative in bringing about international negotiations, certain Governments had expressed a desire that temporary agreements concerning the hours of work should be _ arrived at in certain industries. It invited the director of the International Labour Office to study these suggestions or desires, to consider in respect of different industries whether the situation was such as to render international agreements possible, and, if so, to offer his services to the Governments concerned with a view to convening any meeting which might be considered useful for this purpose. The committee had a mandate at this session only to study arrangements of hours of work during the crisis. It took note, however, of the desires of the workers’ organisations in favour of the 40-bour week, and also of the opinion formulated by certain industrial employers that when prosperity had been re-estab-lished a permanent reduction of hours of work might be possible in those industries in which technical progress had been considerable. Finally, it invited the International Labour Office henceforward to pay particular attention to this question in the course of itsf investigations, with a view to submitting the information obtained, especially on the experience gained in certain eases, to the governing body at a later date. It was agreed that during the interval until the session of the governing body the members of the Unemployment Committee might put forward any useful suggestions for improving the resolution adopted, it being clearly understood that it was for the governing body to discuss and approve a final text.