AN APPEAL TO REASON

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 257, 24 July 1920, Page 8

AN APPEAL TO REASON

THE CALL FOR A NEW ORDER OF RELATIONSHIP (Contributed by the N.Z. Welfare League.) Wo write this as an open letter to the members of tho New Zealand Employers' Federation in the hope that v.hat is said may evoke a better understanding of wliatwe,_ and they, and all rcasonablo mindKt" citizens, have got to recognise at this 6tage of our country's history. Your federation has definitely affirmed "that the time has now arrived when the employers of this Dominion must recognise that a new order of relationship between individual employers and\ their workers must be established." It 1 \vaa in consequence of that affirmation of yours that your recent conference vaa held, at \yhich wo made an appeal for the .calling together of a joint national representative of employers and workers. Foil the ycur federation has officially declined to join in asking tho Government lo call such u conference. Your right io form sveh an opinion is unquestionable, we desire to suggest to you thiit it does not help to" -establish conditions 'of rf„son and mutual good-will jfor your bulletin to write, as is done in the last issue,

that "on the one hand we hr'e a bedy of opinion clamouring for a full dress uational conference, properly stagemanaged, with limelight clYnns, so to speak, etc." Those wiio differ in opinion with your federation have an ecvol right to tneir opinion and in publishing well assiimedly Mi-art writing your federation 'is -unconsciously reflecting upon all who are supporting tlio national conference, proposal, even its own members, of whoiii, we I'.nderotaud, there are quite a number. A NEW ORDER OF RELATIONSHIP. We agree entirely with your federation that a new order - f relationship between empToyens and employees n.tict bo established. As a mou;im-nt ( towards this new order your federation suggests a programme of work cn tlwe liuesi— • (1) In workshops—n'.w-tiugs with employees, establishing coumiitees, personal inquiry into grievances, consideration of suggestions. (!i) Educational propaganda nittiln the tttabiishments on matteia affect- , iug the common interests ci botli employers and workers. (3) "Consideration of the system or payment by results (either by piecework, premium or bonus system, prolit-sharfag, superannuation fuj.ds) as may be best applicable to each particular business. {+) To ' recommend that (lovernnnhit make adequate piwlsiin for unemployment and invalidity inenrance. (5) Assistance by the Government to workers to build and purchase their own borne. Let us examine how far these proposals are the declarations of a new nrder of relatio'isuip, and iirst u;' all, b* a means of guidance, let us bo sure that we Have a lomuion undcrstauding <:f what i.t meant by the words, "a new order of relationship," Clearly a new order must relate to systems that liava not previously existed. What is the order of relationship, then, that doea exist? In the minds of many employers the relationship. between the indi : vidual employers and their employees is the relation of master and servantship. This idea in our opinion is an er.roneoUß one. a,? in actual fact v.'itliin the sphere of industry to-day tho relation of master and servant only eiists as a fiction of custom. In the historical period when bond service obtained the relation of master and servant was a real fact having full force and effect. The truth is that the relationship now existing between employer and employed is the trading relationship of buyer

and seller. . Both parties own something which the other requires. Neither is under any legal or moral compulsion to give- that which he owns except upon terms of agreement. It would 6ave an immense amount of trouble, experience and waste if both parties would candidly and constantly recognise I hat the order of relationship existing between them is that of trading associates jointly engaged in' the exchange of services which are necessary for the supplying of the wants of both. A great nmuint of the industrial unrest of our time is due to the wrong conceptions of the extremists on both sides-employers asserting a mastership that is beyond their right and workers asserting a wage slavery that is a distortion of the true meaning of the terms used. It is remarkable that both sets of extremists are engaged in upholding a fiction that is not in acoordance with historical and actual fact.

THE FEDERATION'S PROGRAMME,, Assuming that our definition of tho actual relationship between employers and workers .is correct, let us exaisjiio liow far the proposed programme is a movement for a new relationship. Clauses 1 and 2 aro proposals which, :f applied on broad lines and with a full recognition that the worker as well as i the' employer may take free action in ihcso directions, is, in our opinion, a mow towards a closer association of tho respective interests, anil is a new order of relationship in the sense of being a fuller expression of the nominal partnership of Capital and Labour than has hitherto prevailed. Piecework, bonus systems, • profit sharing, being actually modifications of the wages system, are not either new, or in any sense a fresh relationship. Tho questions of superannuation funds,

' unemployment, and invalidity insurance, ' and the providing of workers'homes are 1 all of general social policy having moro relation to political action | than to the issue of the order of re- | '.ationship between the employer and his employees. It thus appears to us that | it is only in the first two clauses that ! tho Employers' Federation has dealt with ffie mattar of actual relationship between employer and employed. We commend its plan as being an expansion of the existing relationship along the lines of recognition of the common humanity of the elements to be dealt with. If it is good for the employers to confer with the workers in tho workshops, to hold joint meetings, to hear and discuss matters of assumed grievance or suggestions, if educational propaganda is good both for employers and employed— and we recognise that these are desirable—then we fail tho rnojo to understand why a national conference of employers and employed may not be of value. THE FACTOR OF ORGANISATION. Where wo think tho federation has made a mistake in its programme is in practically ignoring tho fart that there exists to-day, not only an individual relationship between the employer and those immediately employed by him, but thero is a general relationship between the bodies of labour on the one hand and of employers on the other. To nttempt to treat this general relationship as if it wero non-existent is not strength, but weakness. For tb.s employers to operate through their associations and federation and then ask that they may deal with their workers individually is simply to toy with the gravest issues, to engender more suspicion amongst the mass of workers, and to accentuate tho class bitterness which unfortunately aw ready exists. To attempt to explain that the antagouism is only towards extremists of the Labour movement can have no weight,* seeing that the action of ignoring -the Labour organisations is a reflection upon the whole Labour movement. The one thing that seems to us to be more necessary towards establishing a new order of relationship between employers and employed, both individually and collectively, is the manifestation of absolute candour in facing the issues that have to be dealt with. We agree with the Employers' Federation that new relations between tho individual employer and their workers •'must bo established." We contend, however, that thero can bo little hope : of doing this unless the general relations of employers and workers ore candidly faced and freely examined. In ordor to secure this^.candid examination •we havo urged, and' will continue to urge, tho wisdom of calling a joint na- , tional industrial conference. < We ask for this conference not to deal I with the theories or announced aims and i

intenlions of either the workers' organisations or ( the employers, but for botk eides to i'ace the national issho oi what the present industrial relations entail, how they can best lie improved, and what aro the heat means ot constant adjustment. If tlio federation wants its own programme carried out the National Conference will not hinder, but liplp materially jn that direction. Industrial matters Have passed beyond the stage when Ihe.v were the concern of one or two classes within tbe State. They arc "the concern of everybody, as they affect everybody, and that is ouf justification for discussing the questions.