LABOUR NOTES

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 40, 16 August 1919, Page 11

LABOUR NOTES

(By "Zealandia.")

A SHARE IN CONTROL.

Without commenting in any way upon tho Mining Conference which has been sitting in Wellington, it is possible to mention the offer of the State Mines Department to consider a suggestion whereby the miners employed at the State mines would havo direct representation on a board of control governing the State mines. The Department's representative was careful to point out that tbe men's delegate would havo to bo an actual employee at the mine and continue as such during- fho whole term of office as a delegate. The information is not sufficient to show whether the scheme is based on tho Whitley report or not. It has been previously .pointed out that Mio Whitley scheme prOvides for the setting up of joint industrial councils on a national footing. Thero is also provision for joint district committees and joint workshop committee, so it will bo seen that the idea is applicable to the Sta.te Coal Mines separately,or to the coal industry as a whole. The work of all the bodies referred to is clearly defined ; they handle and settle not only questions of wages, hours, and working conditions affecting tho employees, but also many other matters of general interest to the industry, and of mutual interest to both management and workers. As tho information below shows the scheme is, in England, more than an idea, for it has been given practical application on a large scale. THE NEED OF EXPERIENCE. It has been quite plain during the Mining Conference that neither side thoroughly understood the other's viewpoint. The Whitley scheme aims at eliminating such misunderstandings, which are bound to -arise in all industrial disputes. In an article in the Christchurch' Sun recently, dealing with tho Whitloy scheme, Mr. D. G, Sullivan, made some interesting remark relative to this particular point, Ho eaid:—"ln addition to tho immediate advantages to be scoured in the settlement of disputes, ifc has. always appeared to me that the system/will render a great sorvieo to tho workers in bringing largo numbers of their selected representatives into close contact with tho practical problems of business management and administration. The importance of this cannot bo overestimated, for until the workers gain experience in business control they will never bo capable of carrying out that social and economic reconstruction of the national life which it is the universal ideal of tho Labour movement to attain. To quote tho Bolshevik Government in Russia would not win support for any oauie in this country.; nevertheless, it is an interesting fact that among its many internal and external troubles, the most serious difficulty it is. encountering in itattempts to socialise industry is the inexperience and incapacity of the workers in j tho management of industry. The result has been that Lenin has had to enlist tho ! services of the 'bourgeoisie' experts and managers, and pay them exorbitantly high i salaries, contrary, to all his Communist principles, in order to make. possible tho carrying on,of production.. The moral is I that working-class administration of industry is impossible unless tho workers have secured a previous experience. Practical application of tho principles of tho Whitley report would give them the necessary experience." THE WHITLEY SCHEME IN ENGLAND. An, interesting report, was recently issued by the British Ministry of Labour 1 dealing with the Whitley report and the I operation of the scheme in_ Great Britain. Tho report showed that joint industrial councils had been established in 31 industries, and in 19 others constitutions for joint industrial councils had been drafted. Step? had also been taken to apply the principles of. the Whitley scheme to all Government industrial establishments,. to tho Civil Service, and to local authorities' administrative, prpfessional'tcchnical, and clerical staffs. Details aro given in th© report of a large number of industrial agreements arrived at. by the councils, wages in many. instances' having been increased, hours reduced, and working conditions improved. Special machinery has been devised by a number of the coun- i cils for tho settlement of industrial disputes. Schemes for the better education of apprentices have also been laid down. Questions of improving production havo been scientifically investigated. The report goes on to show that. tho wholecharacter of the work of the joint councils is broad, and based upon a recognition of^i the fact that tho workers are just as much' interested in the development and progress of the 'industries as aro the employers themselves. Tho counsels and,committees do not Bupereede the trade unions, but work in conjunction with them, the unions having equal representation with the employers on the councils and committees. It appears as rather remarkable to some that tho Whitley report has not received more prominence in New Zealand, but it would seem that the mine owners generally are now more or less committed to the consideration of such a scheme as outlined in connection with tho State mines. It has been asserted that the general adoption, of tho plan would involve an alteration in the articles of. association of the private companies. Any developments towards the adoption of the scheme willbe watched .with the keenest interest.