Page
Wages Of Skilled Workers:
In The United States
Under the agreement to which American motor manufacturers, and the associations to „which " their workers belong, are parties, any trade union appears to be permissible, provided it is inde- pendent or is not B union to which employers say their work- ers must belong: A worker is free to join, or hot to join, á, regular trade union as he plenses, and if he joins one afiliated to the American Federation of La- bour he is not to be victimised" for so doing. Representatives of regular trade unions are permilk- red collectively to bargain" - with ' employers on behalf of their 'members, but must refrain. "' from using coercive measure where workers belong to no organisation or to independent unions of their own choosing. As minimum wage rates and maximum working hours are fixed by the industry's code of fair competition, there does not appear to be much left for collective bargaining; but, ag a matter of fact, there is a good deal, if the view of the Interna- tional Association of Machinists is accepted,
In a recent issue of the " Ma- chinists Monthly Journal," the editor writes as follows:-"It be- comes more and more apparent as tima passes that the skilled worker in industry is, under the great majority of codes so far adopted, "the forgotten man.' It is true, of course that in most codes his hours of labour have been reduced; but so. has his weekly
while.
income. because many codes provide that an equitable adjustment shall be made in all wage rates above the minimum hourly rate established in the codes, there is ample evid-. ence to prove that employers are either slow in making such ad- Justments or ignore the provision entirety. In any event, the week-" ly wage Income of skilled workers fn almost every industry, thus for codified falls below that, received before the codes became effective. We grant that the establishment.. of minimum rates has, in many instances. mean: substantial hourly increases in the wages of those who fall within the lower brackets of the wage structure, but the skilled worker is simply..
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The Cotton Manufacturing Industry Bill
A second reading was given without a division in the House of Ccmmans to the Cotton Manu-" facturing Industry Temporary Provisions) Bill Under this mea- sure, when it becomes law, legal effect will on application to the Ministry of Labour by both part. les. be given to mutual agree- ments relating to wage rates lin the manufacturing section of the Lancashire cotton industry. SIT Henry Betterton, who moved the second reading, said that in the branch of industry with which
out of luck, because no provision. except as heretofore noted, s made for a proper adjustment of his wage rate."
On the subject of the wage rates of skilled workers, 'the re- gular trade unions are, therefore, seeking to make collective bar. gains with the employers, basing their claim on clause 7 (b) of the Natorial Industrial Recovery Act. "We pointed out some months ago, the editor of the "Maghin- 1sts Monthly Journal goes on to say. "that the skilled worker need not expect to have anything in the way of wage increase handed out to him on a silver platter; that he would, in the future as in the past, have to join with his fellow-worker and enter into ne- gotiation with employers in an attempt to fix by agreement, mini- mum rates for skilled mechanics as well as rules governing work- Ing conditions.”....
Evidence of activity along these A lhes comes from other areas. strike for higher wages, presuma- bly for skilled workers, has, for example, taken place as an im- portant Buffalo aeroplane factory. and another is reported from Camden, New Jersey, where the New York Shipbuilding Corpora- tion's skilled workers are demand- ing, in addition to higher wages, the abolition of piecework and the introduction of the closed shop."
in his constituency, The Joint Industrial Council in the lock industry had for years been ask- ing for these powers, to remove exactly the same kind of difficult- les as "had been","experienced in Lancashire. Certain employers, limited in number, undercut the agreed tate, and thereby did" ser- Jous injury to their more. honour- able competitors.
the Bill was concerned the collection was the lock, trade centred tive agreements were in process of disintegration, and if a state of chaos ensued it would be a dis- aster to the Industry and the country. The position of the em- ployer who wished to keep his agreements was hopelessly pre- judiced if he was subjected to un- dercutting of blacklegging. Under the first clause, where an 'agree- ment had been entered into, an application for an order must be made, jólhtly by organisations re- presenting, a majority of the em ployers and operatives. The effect of an order would be to extend the wages agreement to employers who were, not members of their appropriate organisation. ́ ́ The Bill was an experimental measure and would remain in operation for three years, Agreements could be ended by three months Hotice from either side, and the Minis- fer might take steps to revoke an order.
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Mr. Arthur Greenwood, said that for the first time he found him- self in harmony with the Minis- ter. The Bin dealt with a serious - economie duniculty of over twelve." years standing. There ought to be protection for good employers against bad employers who would hot play the game. Some steps should be taken to stop the de- gradation of the standard of life of the people, and the undercut ting of wage rates by the minort- ty of employers against the de- sires of the majority. The Bill was an attempt to save collec- tive bargaining "from complete collapse in one of the most high- ly organised industries in the country.
Mr. Geoffrey Mander welcomed the Ell, the object of which was, he said, to free the majority from the tyranny how exercised by ob- scurantist blackleg minorities. He hoped that this precedent would be extended to many other in- dustries. Amerig the industries asking for this kind of fegisla-
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Mr. B. Williams, the Union- ist Member for South Croydon, moved, the rejection of the Bul; which he described as the worst presented in modern times. It would, he said, take away from a large number of people, both employed and employers any right to determine the conditions under which they should enter into contracts one with another. That was an entirely new doctrine. The Bil sought to create an industrial ring for the prices of labour. It represented the end of progress in industry? It was going to make every manufacturer work on ex- actly the same lines as every" other, and that was, he believed,
real challenge, which, if - lowed, was going to make thi much more serious than was rea- Used was a step towards the corporate State," with the "do- mination of industry from above. Mr. Rakes, the Unionist Member for South-east Essex, who second-. ed, said that he was not against a vast majority being able to in- pose its will on an intransigent minority, but he objected to the power which the Bill sought to give to a bare majority of 51 per cent. to override
a minority of 49 per cent.
}}
In the further course of the debate, Mr. Hammersley the Un- lonist Member for Stockport, chai- lenged the accuracy of a state-.. ment made recently outside the
by Sir House
Walter Pre- ston, which, he said, amount- ed to a charge of inefficiency against the industry and an accusation that a large pro- portion of the machinery in Lyn cashire was obsolete. That was a grave reflection on the business ability of those engaged in it.
Sir Walter Preston repeated the statement in a contribution to the discussion on the Bt. The Lancashire operative was, he said, the finest worker in the world; but he was hopelessly han- dicapped by old machinery, and could not possibly complete with Japan. Given modern mac- hinery, Lancashire could provide and market in India cotton goods at a lower price than Japan: Lan- cashire had not got the money to replace the machinery. Bånkers and financiers would not take the risk. The money could only be obtained with Government help. It was up to the Government to come forward with assistance, "as in the case of the Canard and White Star Lines, but that assis- fance should only be given on de- Anite conditions. With up-to-
date methods Lancashire could still make large profits.
A LOG OF THE ROADS
OF
CHINA
At Yulingkwan. near the Anh- wel border, a 5 mille section of the road operates for way trafic only. The commencement of this section is marked by small round discs at each end which the Club. are endeavouring to have changed for something more appropriate. All vehicles must stop at these discs and re- maff","stationary until permission
is granted to continue.
HANGCHOW-FUYANG- SUQWCHANG ROAD
This road is now completed (approximately 100 miles), and will be available for usè as from July At Chichteh a road is under construction to Tungki and same can be used at present as far as Shunan. It should be noted that from Showchang an earth road (12 miles), has been in existence for some time to Lanchi and continues from there to Yukiang (185 miles), from which place a first class surfaced road goes to Nanchang (90 miles). From Nanchang there are seva- ral first class roads.
All these roads will be logged by the Club in the near future but Members using them are re- quested to keep a complete 10g of the roads in English and Chi- nese and forward same to the Secretaries.
HWEICHOW-TUNGKI
One bridge about half way between these two places is out of use owing to need for repairs and traffic is therefore, suspen-
ded.
to
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE
Nanking, July 7.-The Ministry of Communications has decided establish an Engineering Bureau to take charge of the projected, 9-provinces long-dis - tance telephone network. Mr. of Wang, Chin-cheng, Director "the Engineering Bureau for the Chefoo-Tsinan Telephone. Ber- vice, will be transferred as Direc- tor of the new bureau
The Ministry has also decided to create a Navigation Office in Foochow to attend to matters relating to shipping services in Fukien province. Mr. Shih Cheng-chih, Director of the Ning- po Navigation Office. 19 to be transferred to hear the new office in Foochow.--Koɑ Min.
NANKING-SHANGHAI
RAILWAY
Nanking, July 8-A súm of $69.120 towards the amortisation of loan obligations, of the Nan- king-Shanghai Railway Admini- stration for railway. materials has been remitted to the British and Chinese Corporation, it is. learnt. The remittance was made through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank-Kuo Min,"
$4
AIRPLANE FUND”
讣
Nanking, July 6.--The Ministry of Railways -announced to-day,
the contributions to the "Att- plane Fund" collected by the Ministry up to date.
Altogether a sum of $878,355.51 has been collected by the "Mini- stry from the staff and wor- kers of the various rallway ad- ministrations and the 17 organs under its direct jurisdiction. The Peiping-Hankow Railway Ad- ministration heads the list with $110,000.
1!
The fund with the interest acerged have been handed over to the National Commission for the Promotion of Aviation. Kuo Min.
FRENCH VIEW ON OVERTIME
In the course of an address broadcast by means of wireless telegraphy, Mr. Lambert-Ribot, of the French Association of Metal, Mining and Engineering Indus tries, said that many people were demanding the complete abolition of every sort of exception-over time, spread-over arrangements, &e--to statutory' hours of work. as a means of combating unem ployment. At present" these ex- ceptions gave manufacturers necessary margin which permitted them to adapt their time-tables to the variations which Inevitably arose in every undertaking; to abolish them on the pretext of Increasing the utilisation of un- employed labour would be about as reasonable as abolishing the safety valve in order to get up more steam..
Taking a concrete case to ilus- trafe is argument, Mr. Lambert- Ribot assumed that an undertak
ing had a daily output of Bb articles, that each article was composed of six assembled parts. each prepared in a different workshop, and that each work- shop had 100 workers. Some slight and by no means excep tional irregularity occurred-a machine stopped, a flaw in manu- facture was discovered, the sup- ply of material was interrupted or some other evidence of human imperfection emerged-and on a “ certain day one of the shops could not produce more than 70 pieces in Its eight hours. That meant. that the shop's output was an hour behind. It was, obviously, Impossible to take on and train 100 new workers for an hour's work; and if the employer or manager was denied the power of keeping that shop that is, 100 men-working one hour's over“ – time, the other 500 workers would have to wait for the full. 30 pieces would have to be present in onder that the 80 articles could be turned out until the produc tion of the shop in question had caught up with that of the whole factory. That was Mr. Lambert- Ribot added, only one of many instances. Moreover, the argu- ments he had summarised appli ed, he claimed, with still greater. force to proposals for a general and compulsory reduction of hours of work
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