STRIKE MAD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3156, 7 August 1917, Page 4

STRIKE MAD

Strikes have been declared at different times on many grounds, but it has been left to the railway and tramway employees of New South Wales to dcclaro a strike as protest against orderly methods of bookkeeping. This is a fair summary of the. merits of the dispute as they aro detailed at iongtli in files which camo to hand by,yesterday's mail. No other conclusion is possible than that. an elementary senso of proportion, let alono a sense of justice, would have induced tho workers concerned to abstain from promoting widespread industrial strife at such a time and on such grounds. The strike which threatens to completely dislocate traffic in New South Wales, with disastrous effect upon many industries, and is already extending into other States, is avowedly 1 based upon no more substantial grievance, than tho introduction of a timecard system in the railway and tramway workshops of New South Wales. Tho cards to which exception has been taken are simply an orderly record in a convenient form of tho time spent by «, man upon a given task or tasks during a day, week, or longer period: Somo system of keeping time is, of course, essential in any industry, and the card system is merely an improvement on less efficient methods. In' a statement on tho subject a few days ago the New South Wales Railway Commissioners said:

Until comparatively recently in the locomotive workshops every employee was required to enter either in a tirn'ebook kept for the purpose, or a timeslip, the number of hours spent on a particular job, but the information furnished, being- somewhat vague, did not convey to the Department tho exact information which would enable • the ci>st of tho various classes of work carried out being ascertained with. aJiy degreo of accuracy. The system was cumbersome from the appropriation point of view, in that it iiecessitated.n very careful analysis by time clerks to ascertain the approximate debits for es'ch piece of work. Tho system which obtained in the Randwick workshops, though similar to that in the Eveloigh workshops, possessed the same unsatisfactory features, although in these shops the men were not called upon to make out their own time 6lips, the work having been done by time clerks, who wont through the shops, ascertained from each individual employed the charge number on which he was working, and tho thrio spent tin eacli charge number. Tho records taken in this case were entered up in a time-book, and transferred later to 6uiitablo time sheets. Tho system which has now been put into operation provides for tho use of three types of cards of different colours, Which are filled in by tho sub-foreman in charge of tho work. The f.ystem, besides providing means by which the authorities can ascertain what machines are undesirable to keep in oporation owing to low capacity, gives ■ credit to tho men whose services are i' ost valuable and worthy of recognition for their good work, and at the samo time provides protection to the men against baseless cbargcs. Beforo deciding on this system, tho Commissioners had exhaustive iiiquiiries made of the practices of manufacturing establishments in the various States, and tho system now being introduced is similar to tho better system in operation in those stops.

Tho ease of the workers who liavo gono out on strike as a protest against the introduction of tho card system was stated by a deputation from tho Raridwick tramways workshops which interviewed tho Chief Commissioner (Mr. Fraser) on Tuesday last. . Tho suggestion was, one member of the deputation stated, that the system tended to speeding up more than setting what was considered a fair day's work. Tho men were quiio prepared, he added, for an investigation into their work, but held that tho new system was entirely unnecessary, that it tended to 'espionage, and was conducted in the dark. In tho event of a mistako being made by. a sub-foreman in entering up tho time taken oyer a job, or if tho work necessarily' took longer than usual, (.hey won 11 not be allowed an opportunity of explaining, for in a month's time tho job would bo

away from the shop. These and [other statements drew from tho Chief Commissioner tho reply that they were grounded upon absolutely baseless suspicions. He added that it was all a matter of suspicion. As to tho suggestion that a man might suffer from a foreman's mistake, he said that the men had objected to make their own record of work, and tho Commissioners were going to make that record for them. Any man who desired to know the timo marked on the card could see for himself. He could sign the card if ho chose. Another niiterial point mado by tho Chief Commissioner was that accurate records woro necessary not only to show the- work done by employees, but to show whether machines and appliances were doing economical work or should bo scrapped.

These details are worth traversing only because they clearly bring out tho fact that • tho New South Wales strike is a protest against an orderly system of working records in tho State industrial enterprises concerned. There is not even tho of a legitimate grievance. Any child can see that orderly timekeeping is ono thing land that speeding-up is another. Tho railway and tramway workers do not pretend that speeding-up or espionage have been attempted. Their declared fear is that orderly timekeeping will lead to the introduction of these evils. Such a . case is manifestly not entitled to serious consideration, and it may be added that the attitudo of tho strikers is tantamount to a claim that employees in tho State railway and tramway workshops should not bo subject to effective supervision or scrutiny. This is not a claim likely to bo spontaneously advanced by honest workmen, and that it has been _ advanced lends colour to tho opinion expressed by Mr. Fuller (Acting-Premier of New South Wales) that tho workers on htriko havo been led away by extremists who have been deliberately conspiring against tho public interest, and who have been responsiblo for tho industrial ferment which has disgraced tho Stato sinco the beginning of tho war. A point which should not be overlooked is that the strikers rejected a proposal that thoy should givo the new system a fair trial for three months. Thoy havo elected on utterly frivolous grounds to cast tho communications and industries of their own and other States into hopeless disorganisation in timo of war. Foolish and regardless of national and Imperial interests as they havo been they will surely read with shamo a statement mado by Sir Douglas Haig in an Army Order which is transmitted to-day:

There is no doubt in our minds that .ilio British armies in Prance, and tho workmen of tlio Empire 'upon whom they depend, have tho' power and tho will ■to win a certain and 'definite victory.