TIME WAGES OR PIECEWORK?

Evening Star, Issue 19659, 12 September 1927, Page 3

TIME WAGES OR PIECEWORK?

“There is abundant evidence to show that the time-wage system is inadequate. Its .successful operation depends on the honesty and good-will of the workmen, or upon the driving power of the management, and no matter how keen a management, it is impossible to got the best results from a body of workpeople who do not feel that their personal interests arc directly allied to their personal efforts,” says ‘Engineering.’ “The system of straight piecework is just and workable. In the present stage of industrial development it is probably the system best suited to our needs. A inan enters into a. contract to do a certain piece of work for a certain price, or to do it in a certain time. Other things Doing equal, his wage depends upon the energy or skill which he displays. He is induced to exert himself. Me knows from hour to hour and from day to day what he is earning, so that the stimulus remains. Personal advantage is a dominating factor in life, and the system of straight piecework is the most direct and effective method of allying a workman’s efforts to his interests. The successful operation of the system presumes two things—namely, that piecework prices in the first instance should bo fair, and that, secondly, they should not be broken by the employer merely because a man exerts himself and earns high wages. If a price is originally fixed on too high a. basis, a worker may earn a wage which he feels should not bo exceeded, and yet may not bo giving an output the reasonable equivalent of his wage. In such a case he is deliberately inefficient and is robbing the employer of production. If, on the other hand, a workman by .supreme effort or by special skill earns a high wage and, In consequence, finds his piecework price broken, the, employer is robbing the worker of the legitimate fruits of his energy or of In’s skill. When such a tendency to take unfair advantage exists on cither side, the value of the system is seriously depreciated, and it may, indeed, come to be an actual disadvantage.”