LABOUR NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 83, 8 April 1911, Page 12

LABOUR NOTES.

?A LIVING WAGE. (By "Unionist.") "What is a living wage?" The problem has again presented itself in connection with the application of the local General Labourers' Union to the City Council for improved working conditions. In New Zealand the Arbitration Court — the body most called upon to answer the proposition' — has ' evaded the issue at all times, though frequently appealed to to make a pronouncement on the subject. No judgment of the Court contains any definite statement) in reference to the principle of a living wage, or any clear indication that the principle underlies the conclusions embodied in the several awards. On the contrary, it has been proved beyond cjuestion tfhab the rates of pay awarded in certain trades in this country do not j provide for a living wage on even the narrowest conception of the principle. Witness the evidence in the cooka and waiters' hotel dispute, and the subse- j quent> award of the Court. It is a standing complaint in trade union ckeles that out Court of Arbitration has never yet denned the basis on which its judgments are made, or offered any suggestions whereby the workers' unions might know whether or not the principle of a living wage is a factor taken into consideration in the making ,of awards. The situation is very different in the Commonwealth. There the Federal Arbitration Court rarely delivers an award without attaching its reasons for 6ame and defining the principles upon which the judgment was based. The pronouncements of Mr. Justice Higgins, President) of the CommaJ.wealth Court of Arbitration, have become text-books on industrial arbitration procedure, and are quoted world-wide. On this very subject of a living wage — on the proposition as to what are "fair and reasonable" wages — His Honour Judge Higgins has delivered a famous judgment.^ The text of it was published at the time in this column. Extracts are *rorth repeating, in view of the discussion at the City Council Committee during the week. After remarking on the indefiniteness of the Ad) as to principles and methods to be followed in framing awards, Judge Higgins, during the course of his judgment, proceeds :—: — "My sole duty is, to ascertain whether the conditions of remuneration submitted to me are 'fair and reasonable.' . . . In the course of the long discussion of this case, I have become convinced that the President of this Court is put in a false- position. The strength of the Judiciary in the public confidence is largely owing to the 1 fact that the Judge has iio.t to devise great principles of action as between great classes or to lay down what is fair and reasonable as between contending interests in the community; but has to carry out mandates of the Legislature, evolved out of the conflict of public opinion and after debate in Parliament. I venture to think -that it will not be found wise iihus to bring the Judicial Department within the range of political fire. These remarks would not be made if the Legislature had defined the general principles on, which I am to determine whether wages are fair and reasonable or the reverse. But* I shall do my best to ascertain by inference the meaning of the enactment; and Parliament can, of course, amend the Act if it desires to declare another meaning. The provision for fair and reasonable remuneration is obviously designed for the bene3t of the employees in the industry; Jind it must be meant to secure to them iiomething which they cannot get by the ordinary system of individual bargaining --yith employers. If Parliament meant that the conditions shall be Buch'as they <:an get by individual bargaining— if it meant that those conditions are to be .:air and reasonable, which employees will accept, and employers will, give in contracts of service— there would be no need for tftis provision. The remuneration could satasy have been left to the iisual, but unequal, contest, the 'higgling of the market' lor labour, with the pressure for bread on one side and the pressure for profits on the other. The standard ot 'fair and reasonable' must therefore be something else; and I cannot think of! any other standard appropriate than the normal needs of the average employee, regarded as a. human being in a civilised community. I have invited counsel and all cancerned to suggest any other standard, and they have been unable to do so. If, instead of individual bargaining, one can canceive a collective agreememV-afl, agreement between all the employers in a given trad© on the one side and all ttie employees on the other— it seems to me that the framers <bf the agreement vould have to take, as the first and dominant factor, the cost of living as a civilised being. If A lets B have the use of his horses on the terms that he gave them fair and reasonable treatment, 1 have no doubt that it is B's duty to give them proper food and water, and such shelter and rest as they need; and, as wages are the means of obtaining commodities, surely the State, in stipulating ior fair and reasonable remuneration for the employees, meant* that the wages shall be sufficient to provde these things, and clothing, and a condition of frugal comfort estimated by current human' standards. _This, then, is the primary test which I "shall apply in ascertaining the minimum wage that can be treated as 'fair and reasonable' in the case of unskilled labourers." The judgment was delivered in .November, 1907, in the M'Kay-Harvester case. Since that /date a further pronouncement on the living wage question has been made by the same Judge. In the Marine Cooks' case it was argued ior the employers that the condition of marriage should not be taken into account in the framing of wages. In his judgment in that case, Mr. Justice Higgms says:— "l cannot accept the ptjiosophic view that marriage is a luxury." And, later on, he clearly lays it down that a wage that will not "allow of the matrimonial conditions of adult workers" is not "fair and reasonable." To sum up his Honour's statements on the subject, a living wage is : — "A wage that will meet the normal needs of the average employee regarded as a human being in a civilised community, allow of the matrimonial condition of an adult worker, and enable him to provide for rest, recreation, food, shelter, clothing, a condition of frugal comfort, and provision for evil days. " The annual meeting of the Wellington Gi'Dcers' Union will be held on Tuesday evi'iiing next. The main business of the meeting will be election of officers for the ensuing year, and consideration of thf- half-yearly report. A conference of delegates representing the Grocers' Unions in the four centres , for the purpoio of forming up a federation, has been fixed for Eastertime in Cliristchureh. Members will be asked to elect two delegates at the conference. According to the report to be presented at the meeting the union continues to make good progress. During the six months thirty-six new members were admitted to the organisation. Tho receipts for the half-year totalled £57 odd, and the expenditure roughly £37. The union finishes the period with cash assets totsJling just on £70. By contributing sfd per week the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, with its 109,000 members, has kept. 60uv workmen of Great Britain out of the workhouse. It has spent in benefits Hintie its formation in 1851 over £3,000,000. i