TRADE UNIONISTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26853, 18 August 1948, Page 5

TRADE UNIONISTS

VARIOUS GROUPS DEFINED SURVEY OF BRITISH SCENE N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 10 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 17. A series of studies of the British, trades union organisation have been issued by an independent organisation. Political . and Economic Planning (P.E.P.), after a series of surveys extending back to 1942 and published this week. The first study, which describes the various main types of unions, says that the rank and file of most unions are suspicious of employers and all connected with them, and generally are ill-versed in the difficulties of negotiation. A smaller but more active group in most unions is anxious to meet the employers, but is militant and very susceptible to pressure from below. Finally, there are national officials who are concerned with broad issues of policy and often embarrassed by demonstrations of irresponsibility on the part of the rank and file. problem of Hours Another study, dealing with the question of hours, states: “It is improbable, on the scientific evidence available, that the 40-hour week will secure maximum output in most industries at the present level of mechanisation. It may, therefore, be necessary to weigh the higher material standards which would accrue from working a longer week against the social advantages in health and leisure to be gained from working a shorter one."

The last study v „ which deals with trades unions in post-war Britain, suggests that many of the obstacles to full trades union participation in the national drive for greater production are a legacy from _ the hostilities and suspicions of the past. . The removal of these suspicions is only possible if they can be replaced by a more confident outlook.

Hope of Fulfilment

“ Confidence to a' trades unionist means not an airy and Utopian belief in the immediate achievement of all he wants,” says the report, “ but confidence that the realisation of his hopes is being brought nearer. He wants to feel he is not being exploited, that his wages and conditions of Work are as good as circumstances will allow, and not being depressed to the advanage of someone else. He wants to feel that his job is secure and does not depend upon the whims of an irresponsible boss.

Abolishing Suspicion

“ He wants to feel that his status as a worker is really improving, and he bitterly resents the suggestion that he is incapable of having useful ideas. The process of abolishing suspicion will be slow and surrounded with difficulties, both material and psychological. Yet somehow it must be abolished and replaced with confidence in the reality of an advance towards a better state of things.” The report argues that the Government must do more to make its policies understood by the rank and file of the union movement, and stresses that to the ordinary man and woman a Labour Government may seem as remote as any other kind of Government. ■,