PROFIT-SHARING SCHEMES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16822, 21 August 1920, Page 11

PROFIT-SHARING SCHEMES.

LABOUR LEADER’S CRITICISM. The objections raised by organised Labour to systems of profit-sharing were dealt with by Mr. T. Bloodworth in an address before members of the Society of Accountants in Auckland on Tuesday evening. Mr. S. G. Chambers presided over a good attendance. Mr. Bloodworth said profit-sharing was a suggestion as old as the industrial evils it was supposed to remedy. The primary cause of the evils of capitalism was the separation of Labour and Capital. There was legitimate capital used in industry but a large amount of the accumulated capital owned by the employers represented the unpaid wages of former workmen. Trades unions were opposed to profit-sharing schemes because they tended to weaken unionism and divide tho workers, and also because they tended to prolong tho system of production for profit. Labour advocated the institution of a system of production for use. Although Labour unions bad boon charged with leaving out tin;'great third party —tho general public—profit-sharing loft out all except the workers. Owners and workers might combine to share the profits and raise the prices of commodities, so that those' sections of the community which could not participate would find their -purchasing power was reduced for the benefit of other sections. Profit-sharing was not applicable to small businesses such as the majority in Now Zealand. The real object of tho scheme was merely to put capital on a sounder basis. Tho worker under a profit-sharing scheme received his wages partly in cash and partly in shares which,'-however, did not entitle him to the same control of the business as the capitalist and this tended to create suspicion between the workers and employer.