LABOR IN AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1916, Page 7

LABOR IN AUSTRALIA.

"C.V CANNYISM." (By Rev. Frederick Ktubbs. F.E.G.,9. in .Dunedin Star), lu a friendly observer Labor in Australia does not appeal' to be in a very healthy condition just now. According to the. newspapers, there have b 3()'J strikes in this country since t! inning of the war, and though mbt most of these strikes have been trumpery alluirs, it is everywhere obvious that the relations between Capital and Labor are anything tut cordial. In a pievious article I referred to the serious wharf strikes in M&ckay and Brisbane, and to the disastrous disputes.in the sugar industry, disputes which threaten its very existence. The constantly recurring .strikes at Broken Hill are also we'll known. At the moment of writing there ii a great coal strik» in New South Wales. According to cue of the fudges, millions of pounds have been lost to the country in this way during the last two years, and still the "workers"' appear ready to down-tools on the, slightest provocation. Unfortunately, a *m*l) but influential class of men jrofit by industrial discontent, and so good oa:i> is taken that it shall never die out. As sson as peace is made in on« locality (generally from exhaustion of funds) strife is stirred up in another. And so the endless disputes and strikes go on, to the great loss of the community as a whole and the despair of tho&e who, like the present writer, desire to see Australia prosperous and contented.

"GO SLOW." On coming over to Australia tliia year, I saw for the first time in my life a number of little labels pasted oiitsido •workshops unci factories and on kiujiposts, bearing : n large letters H>s "X----hirtation Slow" or ''Slow Down." '! he intention is pretty obv : ous It i< an instruction to workmen to reduce t!'ei>' output, and though it would be most unfair to the Labor party as a whole to miie them responsible for these exhortations, there is evidence, which I shall proceed to one. that thev we not brcn without effect. It is possible that Hie rastinj;- of ilitse labels is the work of the l.'A'.W., bit": the Go-slow policy wu i' in.i"h larger body of supporters than that, and an appeal to do less work tuids an all-too-ready response in the natural ii.dolence of the average man.

ILLUSTRATIONS. To illustrate the above, it may lie mentioned that whereas formerly 1000 bricks a day was regarded'as a fair tiling, it ife now very seldum that 500 or 000 is exceeded. In Government workshops especially, I am informtd. the propaganda is being zealously pushed. At the Commonwealth clothing factory m Melbourne no machinists and 11 cutters had to he discharged because of the deliberate adoption of slow-down tactics. According to the official organ of the New South Wales Returned Soldiers' Association, some members of that body who were given work at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory were told by the fellow-work-men that they must ''go slow." One told that he vas working too hard. It ippears that he entered the workshop quite inexperienced, but in a short time turned out (SO bolt pieces per hour, whereupon the other employees told him that half that number—namely, 30—was a 'fair thing." Another returned soldier turning out 13S rifle parts in a shift was told that he must ease down; even experienced workers only did 100. Serious wastage oil the part of the men is also alleged, and it is claimed that if the men as a whole worked honestly the cutput would be increased 40 per cent. Again, at Homebush the slaughtermen decided that none of tiierr number should kill more than 10 head of cattle per day. but at Glebe Island 23 ha,-, been done, and at RSverton the average is 18. I, of course, have little personal knowledge of these idustries. but it is quite evident that either the Glebe Island and Riverton men are working too hard, or the Homebush men are not working nearly hard enough; and, taking human nature as it is, the latter is the more probable. SYSTEMATIC DAWDLING. No one doubts that what the advocates of Ca' Cannyism aim at is systematic dawdling on the part of the workers. A man must not do as much, as he can in the hour, but as little. He is instructed to demand £1 a day for half a day's work. The slowest worker makes the

pace, and so the industry, suffers, whilst in regard to the race there is a tendency to breed a generation of degenerates. \ deadly system of one uniform wage is aimed at, and has been to a very large extent achieved, in which a man is deprived of any hope of bettering himself by additional effort or skill. If he tries to become more expert in his work instead of being rewarded he will become a marked man, and if after warning •he still continues to do his best he will be assaulted ai.d probably (accidentally! killed. One reason why the Labor party arc so anxious to secure the State ownership of industries is because they believe they will then be able to do as little work as they please at, practically, any wage they please. Tt, is an alluring prospect, and notlrng will persuade the average laborer that such a system could not last. He thinks that by means of high tariffs the State couM charge what it pleased for commodities, ami pay what wages it pleased. Of course, any ma'i who really studies the subject must see that the increase of wages and the re ntriction of output inevitably increased the price of commodities, which means that the worker must pay a good deal more for them or go without. In many cases he would be compelled to go without desirable conveniences and luxuries. The purchasing power of his wage would be so reduced that instead of being bet ter off he would almost certainly be worse. The man who is ultimately injured most by the "Go-slow" policy is not the "boss," but the worker. The "boss" may avoid trouble and ceaseless worry by refusing any longer to be a "boss," or by investing his capital in some other country, or by passing 011 tnc cost to the consumer. Emploment, too, is lessened, for inefficient and dishonest work will natwally deter men of ability and capital from entering an industry, erecting a factory, etc., in one country, jf he can do so with very much greater prospect of peace and profit in another. It is to the be efit of the laborer, as to everyone else in the community, that men should be encouraged to invest their energy and capital in industry. If none did so, the capitalists would suffer loss, lmt men with'no capital would starve The fact is—though, alas! it is difficult to get men 10 see it—that the man who invests his knowledge and money in an industry is not the. workman's enemy but his friend. He provides work for those, who need it, and every industry established tends—if not arbitrarily interfered with—to lower the cost of commodities, and so to make wages go farther. It i. a thousand pities that more amicable relations cannot be brought about between Capital and Labor. Ko right-thinking man would desire the worker to be oppressed, oi over-worked, or ovei'-paid. Let there be some impartial tribunal set up to decide industrial questions (even before they become disputes), with power to enforce its decisions. The error in the past has been that such tribunals could enforce their decisions only 011 one side. One penalty of idsobedience should be the loss of the franchise, which makes men so powerful in the Stale. Unionism has doubtless done some good, but it has also destroyed industrial freedom and created a monopoly; and monopolies always tern' to tyranny. But for tho power of the unions, strikes would heeme less frequent and labor more efficient, for every man would be paid according to his work, and so strive to become a better workman. The whole problem is a very difti cult one, but I am certain it is not in solvable, and the present condition of things, at all events, is both deplorable and dangerous.