COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 76, 16 April 1937, Page 4

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.

ui interest in connectioft with. whai^h&s been WtittCn above are the1 foUowing concluding paragr'aphia frOhi fin ar'fcicle appearing in tho ''Christian Science Monitor" from the pen of the Profeasor of Business Economics at Harvard University:. — "Let there be no mistake," writes the Professor, "about the fadf that collective bargaining implies radical changes in our economic arrangements and even in our legal arrangemelits. It repxesents a system by which the price df labour tends to be set by a system of bilateral monopolies. No one knows definitely how Such a system of price fixing will work or What publio shpervision it may eventtlaliy demand. Up to the present, collective bargaitiing has not beefl developed in most industries to the point where trade unions are prepared to consider very carefully the relationship between the price of labour aiid the voltllne of employment. "Some trade unions have done a pretty godd jdb Of selling labour, but many of them have been concerned simply with peggillg the price of labdtir, ilofc with marketing the services of their rmembers. It remains to be seen ,therefore, whether colleOtive bargaining can be developed into A satisfactory device for taking acOouiit of ohangeS in the demand for labour and for keeping the price Of labour prope'riy adjusted to changes in the rest of the price structure. 1 "How SOon these problems can be satisfactorily solved depends in large measure upon whether America develops a labour movemeat that is well led, responsible and capable of taking a broad view of its problems and the problems of industry. Whether we build this kind of labOtir moVement depends in large meaBure tipon how employers treat unions. By treating them fairly and showitig a disposition to c'0-operate with them and to seek their help, employers poSseSs great power to influence the kind of labour movement which develops in the (Jnited . States. "The British have been conspicuously successful in creating a labour movement which is one of the glories of their civilisation. Their movement is really the creation of all classes, because the attitude of the Goverrunent and of the employers has helped to make the British labour movement what it is. Amorica has it witliin her power to build here a labour movement of which we may be as proud as the British are of theirs. If we do, it will be because all classes in the community heip make such a movement poasible."