THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22295, 22 June 1934, Page 3

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES By J. T. Paul. Magna Cliarta showed that in the last resort every Englishman possesses a freedom which the authority of Government itself must respect. There was established then what we trust mid pray we shall never lose, that in this island the people own the Government and not the Government the people. It is not only our Empire and our place in the world that we owe ,< to our ancestors. There is our freedom. —Mr .Winston Churchill. PENALTIES FOR *' SLACKING." The questions of the most appropriate punishment for relief workers caught " slacking " on the job occupied the attention of the New Brighton Borough Council this week. . The council agreed to receive a deputation from the relief workers who had been suspended for "slacking" during working hours in the previous week. Jno deputation stated that the men agreed that they had been fairly caught, but desired that some other form of punislinient be meted put. As it stood it affected the wives and families and not the guilty parties. The punishment was inequitable, as some of the men were four-day men, some three and a-half days, and some three days. They also stated that two of the men should not be punished at all, as they were most industrious workers and had never "loafed" on the job. An amendment that the men be made to work extra time, the nature of the work and the time to be left in the hands of a sub-committee was lost. The overseer reported that he had found seven men idling on another job during working hours and their case was to have been considered last evening. It was decided that as the Unemployment Board was of the opinion that the council was employing too many relief workers, the men be informed that any men failing to do reasonable services would be removed from the unemployment list of the council. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE. The International Labour Office has long been recognised as one of the institutions working for general betterment in industry and a wider recognition of the principles which operate towards world recovery. The publications of the office are constructive and almost indis; pensable to a complete understanding of present-day conditions and a comprehension of future probabilities. A copy of the report of the director of the office (Mr Albert Butler) to the International Labour Conference now in session has just come to hand. The report is a practical and able presentation of the actual situation which faces the eighteenth session of the conference, taking into account the accomplishments and disappointments encountered in the variouscountrjes which have attempted to mitigate the effects of the economic depression. This able summary is contained in a chapter on "The Efforts Towards Recovery." It enables one to have within reasonable limits the measure of improvement which can reasonably be registered against the debit of 1933. In the next chapter on "The Social Consequences," Mr Butler says that in the light of the previous survey of the econojnic field, " a review of the field is lees liable to give rise to extravagant hopes and fears." While "there has undoubtedly been a real improvement in the lot of the workers in most countries during the past year, it is important not to exaggerate its extent or its implications for the future." Unemployment, social insurance, wages, hours of work, and migration are dealt with as they affect the general welfare. In the chapters on "Experiments in Social Structure" and The International Labour Organisation in 1933" the director has succeeded admirably in outlining, the essentials in a way which clarifies the general situation. Regarding the possible extensions in the direction of public control, Mr Butler observes: ''lt may be that a prolonged political education is required before democracy becomes capable of imposing the '•'self-discipline 1 ' required,- but past history, both of war and peace, affords ample proof that free institutions are not incompatible with clear policy or strong executive atcion."

Mr Butler's " Conclusion " reaches a high level. "As long as the framework of civilisation endures," he says, " the need for international co-operation will continue to exercise an irresistible force. By steadily pursuing its course during these years of stress and turmoil, the International Labour Organisation has done its part by showing the value and the purpose of international co-operation. In the time ahead the task of the organisation is likely to become even more arduous and more responsible, but if it remains faithful to its organic principles of world peace and social justice it can play the great part allotted to it in solving the contradictions with which the present generation is wrestling." MR HENRY.FORD ON WAGES. "No one loses anything by raising wages as soon as he is able," 6aid Mr Ford recently when restoring the five dollars (£1 a day to 47,000 of 70,000 employees operating his plant at Detroit. " It has always paid us. Low wages are the most costly any employer can pay. It is equal to using low-grade material; the waste makes them vei-y expensive in the end. "The hardest thing I ever did and ever had to do was to cut wages. Now I am mighty glad wages are climbing back again. This company is headed back to the six-dollar a day minimum," concluded Mr Ford. Most of the Ford workers affected by the announcements have.been earning four dollars (lGs) to 4.40 dollars (17e 8d) a day. Mr Ford was paying 50 cents (2s) an hour in his plants when the code rate was only 43 cents. This rise is the first blanket increase since 1929, when the six-dollar (£1 4s) rate prevailing in December of that year wag raised to seven dollars (£1 8s) to combat the depression, which was just about beginning. The seven-dollar rate was maintained for 22 months before conditions became so bad that it had to be cut. Labour unrest in the automobile plants has centred largely over the question of the company union and not over the questions of wages and hours. Detroit has always been an open-shop town, and the employers have always fought determinedly any attempts to unionise their plants. Under the N.R.A. the workers have a right to choose whether they want to have the company union or the unions organised under a charter of the American Federation of Labour. A LAND CONTENT. • While other nations may sing hymns of hate or tighten their belts in the face of grim sacrifices, Denmark remains a contented land (says the Manchester Guardian). Our commercial secretary at Copenhagen becomes almost lyrical in his report on " Economic conditions in Denmark," published this week by the Board of Trade. Denmark, he says, " hae managed throughout the past two years to retain a standard of living characterised by a marked absence of poverty and by a scale of real wat?es which is among the highest in Europe." Her external debt is small, her Budget is balanced, money circulates freely; " even in outward" appearance she is a prosperous country. Her economic life is based upon a reasonable balance between industry, commerce, and agriculture. Her civil engineers are of such repute abroad that they secured in 1933 contracts for a new mole at Madeira, the extension of the harbour of Gdynia, in Poland, and a share of a Persian railway. Although unsubeidised (continues the Guardian), she has lcss useless shipping than most countries. Her agricultural exports of butter, eggs, and bacon arc destined mainly for Great Britain, whose needs are carefully catered for. While in the past Denmark ha<? had an extremely favourable balance of trade with us, her statesmen realise that in the present condition of the world it ie essentia] for her to buy more from us. An Anglo-Danish trade agreement became effective last June, and in 1933 Denmark took nearly £5,000,000 worth more goods from us than in 1032, amounting to 28 per cent, of her total purchases from abroad. Danish exports to Great Britain increased by about half that ffiim during the same period, but the rise in value was entirely due to Mr Elliot's manipulation of bacon prices. Both in quantity (per head of population) and in quality Denmark is a steady and reliahla

market for us. A President of the Board of Trade who deliberately jeopardised it would be foolish indeed. EMPLOYMENT OP WOMEN. The International Labour Office has sent to all the Governments of States members a report on the partial revision of the 1919 Convention concerning the employment of women during the night, the question being set down for consideration by the International Laboiir Conference now jn session at Geneva. This is not, of course, the first time the revision' of this convention has been before the conference. Proposals for revision were considered by the "Fifteenth Session of the conference in 1931, but on that occasion failed by a narrow margin to obtain the two-thirds majority necessary for the adoption of a new convention. Consideration of the question at that time was complicated by doubts as to whether it was correct to interpret the convention as applying to women who hold positions of supervision, or management, and' who are not ordinarily engaged in manual work. ■■ In November, 1935, the Permanent Court of International Justice gave an advisory opinion to the; effect that the convention does apply to women holding such positions. The way was thus made clear for a fresh consideration of the question of revision. It is necessary to remember that it is not a question of discussing the principle of the prohibition of night work for women; the proposed partial revision is only concerned with two particular points bearing on methods of application. In accordance with the Standing Orders, the International Labour Office has prepared draft amendments on these two points, to serve as the basis of discussion at the conference. The first draft amendment is to insert a new article in the convention in the following terms:—"This convention does not apply to persons holding responsible positions of management who are not ordinarily engaged in manual work." The second proposed amendment is to insert in article 2 of the convention, after the first paragraph, the following proviso:—"Provided that the competent authorities may, where there are exceptional circumstances affecting the workers in a particular industry or area and after consultation with the employers' and workers" organisations concerned, decide that for those workers the interval between 11 o'clock in the evening and 0 o'clock in the morning shall be substituted for the interval between 10 o'clock in.the evening and 5 o'clock in the morning."