WAGE AND HOURS IN DAIRYING INDUSTRY

Shannon News, 25 October 1927, Page 2

WAGE AND HOURS IN DAIRYING INDUSTRY

Farmer Must Dispense With Hired Labour

BASIC WAGE FOE RURAL WORKERS

Conditions in the dairying industry of New South Wales are aptly dealt with by a writer in "The Australian Dairyman," where recently a basic wage of £4 4s. a week has been fixed for rural workers, On account of the similarity of conditions and the possibility of similar efforts being "made in New Zealand sooner o r later the article in the Australian paper should be of interest to ' Dominion producers.

"Fixation of wages," states the writer, "by awards, irrespective of the earnings of the industry which has to pay the wages, may hold the field for a time in commercial undertakings in the cities where large profits can be made under tariff protection that keeps out the competition of external suppliers. The system must break down when applied to the dairying industry, because in present conditions those who are engaged in producing supplies for manufacture of dairy products, such as butter, «?annot pay wages for rural labour on a scale commensurate with wages of city workers. "All wages must be paid out of production. That proposition is indisputable, although on various occasions organised wage-earners in the State of Now South Wales have endeavoured to dispute it. For instance, when the price of copper fell so low that the output from the Cobar copper mine was insufficient to pay the standard rate of wages, the miners approached the Government of the day with a demand that it should pay a subsidy sufficient to enable the owners to go on paying the existing wages in spite of the diminished value of the output. The Government of the day exhibited a gleam of common sense and refused the demand, with the result that the Cobar copper mine was closed down. Paying for Labour. ,"In the same way dairy farmers must close down if the Arbitration Court fixes a wage rate which the income that they derive from their efforts is insufficient to enable them to pay for indispensable labour, after providing for' the maintenance of themselves and their families. Con sequently the hearing by the Concill ation Committee of an application by the A.W.U. for an "award covering employees in the dairying industry is a matter of literally Df vital import ance to the dairy farmers. If the award should fix wages at a level which the income from the production of dairy supplies will not enable a particular dairy farmer to pay, then that dairy farmer will have to dispense with hired labour and carry on his farm by his own labour and the (unpaid) labour of his wife and children. Figures already given in evidence before the Tariff Commis sion, sitting in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and elsewhere, suggest very strongly that it is a matter of impossibility for the large majority of dairy farmers to pay wages at all commensurate with the wages earned by workers in city factories or in commercial houses. The Chairman of the Conciliation Committee stated that he thought the proper proceedure would be, If those engaged in the industry intended tc support their opposition to an award, that books of account should be submitted to him. These could then be examined by a Government auditor who could then report back to him. No doubt that course will be adopted.

"It is possible already at this stage ;o prophesy with complete confidence ;hat the books of account to be sub-

mitted by the dairy farmers will provo that a great number of them do not earn sufficient to permit them to employ any paid labour, even at present current rates which the A.W.U. desire to bo raised and embodied in an award having the force of law. Mr Piddington, K.C., acting as Industrial commissioner, recently fixed a basio wage for rural workers at £4 4s. per week. He made that pronouncement without hearing evidence as to the cost of living in rural districts —■ although that cost of living must be an essential factor in the logical process of arriving at a basic wage—and in spite of the protests of Mr Ferguson, the counsel who appeared for the producers. Difference Between City and Rural Industries. "The city industries are enabled to earn profits which allow them to pay high wages, as well as interest on the capital invested. The rural Industries—especially the dairy industry—must be treated differently. Figures given in evidence already, and presented in sworn statements to the Tariff Commission show that the income of many dairy farmers and their

wives and families working together, is very much less than would suffice to pay the basic wage to each workins - member.

"In addition to prescribing a minimum rate of wages, an award for hired labour on dairy farms would, of course, fix the daily hours of work also. A 4 4 -hour week, or even a 48-hour week is an impossibility 'on a dairy farm, and workers who feel that they require the amount of leisure which such a regulation would give them, may be advised in all sincerity to seek employment in the cities and not in the country. The cities have been made by man, and man-made regulations may be applied there without causing irremediable confusion. But nature made the country, and in the country "man go* eth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening," without any mention of holidays, half-holidays, of curtailed hours.

"Of all the rural producers, the dairy farmer is least able to restrict the time devoted to labour. The cow is a most exacting animal, requiring to be milked twice a day and attended to regularly from dawn until dark, even though the heavens may fall. Modern inventions, such as rapid transportation facilities, may enable a worker en a dairy farm to rush away to his nearest country town in order to transact business or even to snatch an occasional bit of recreation, but he must be back at the farm by milking-time. Blaming the Government.

A Government that honestly desired to help the dairying industry would strive to promote cheaper, not dearer, production. Many months ago the Imperial Economic Committee, after making an exhaustive investigation, issued a warning to dairy producers in the Dominions that it would be necessary for them to cheapen tho processes of production in order to compete successfully against the steadily increasing competition of producers in other parts of the world. That warning applies primarily to those who produce butter for export, but since a considerable proportionQ about one third —of the output of Australian butter is still exported, it applies with urgent force to those who are now engaged in the industry. Tet the Government of the State of New South Wales, instead of assisting- the dairy farmers to cheapen production, have loaded them with every kind of impost that can make production more expensive. This process leaves them with steadily diminishing incomes, and increased obligations. The policy has been pushed so far already that the results obtained up to tho present encourage a strong suspicion that the Government for some sinister ends of its own, desires to make it Impossible to carry on rural industries by private enterprise—just as it seeks to bring about the same result for those who conduct businesses of production and distribution in the cities."