Labour Troubles.

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 4, 1 December 1919, Page 673

Labour Troubles.

Unions and Strikes. One of the greatest problems before the- country to-day is the seething unrest of Labour. Co-partner-ship and profit sharing was put. forward as a means of making Labour more satisfied. This method is advocated, and is adopted many commercial companies. It no doubt has a lot in its favour hut there is a lot to its and Labour’s disadvantage, once the system starts to be universally used. It has the possibility of creating efficiency of both capital and labour of the very best commercial ventures, at the expense of totally sacrificing less competent labour and capital. Capital is used in commercial ventures to make, if possible, larger interest than the current value of money, say, 6 per -cent. In doing this the investors take all kinds of risks. There is an element of gambling in the transactions, and in some cases the risk is very great, so great that it could almost be allied with betting on horse racing, so that capital is entitled to, say,, 6 per cent, on safe money value and on the top of this a risk rate not easy to define. The different way capital is invested all has a bearing influence on profit-sharing to labour. Investors who take large risks we will assured pay large profits, or probably lose their capital, while sound judgment on the part of the investor, proper organising and control of capital and general management, must have a profit earning or losing influence on the capital invested, and in consequence each investment will be offering different conditions to the labour it employs on a profit-sharing basis. Now we will assume there are 20 ventures in the same line of business and production, each investment will more or less be working under different conditions. The judgment of the investors, may be faulty or eveh reckless, the general management will not always be on the same -lines. Some will be handicapped by different circumstances. The result of the ventures that makes the largest profits will offer better inducements to labour than, the venture making small profits., and thus draw to its fold the very best workmen, which will further increase the profit earning of those particular companies, while the less competent workman will be forced into working for the companies making small profits and will naturally further decrease their profit earning. This would lead to grave dissatisfaction amongst labour.'. This in itself would be bad chough but it would probably spread still further. 'Wage

earners would look further and watch the most sue-, cessful company operating in any districts paying large profits to its labour. By this method the most successful business proposition would at once command the very best picked labour and become further efficient, no doubt very satisfactory to the capital and labour which they employed, but not to the capital and labour, handled by less competent labour. It would be quite possible to get the very best efficiency of some of the industries working by the profit sharing system; (while efficiency and merit have to be recognised and rewarded), this seems, however, to sacrifice too much to gain any lasting result, and opens the door to serious discontent. Efficient labour cannot afford to do something that is not satisfactory to less efficient labour. -Neither can capital put forth a measure that would destroy less efficient capital. j As this unrest of labour is practically over the whole world, and affects all kinds and classes, the adjustment of better conditions must be something that reaches further than profit sharing or co-part-nership something more just -to the inefficient worker, something more secure than a game of chance on capital risk of all kinds of investments. Further, profit sharing or co-partnership does not tend to cheapen, cost of production or cost of living, but would create a higher cost of living because both workmen and capital would be out after larger profits m combination together. Take labour producmg flour. On the profit or co-partnership no one would expect labour to ask the investor to reduce the price of flour, but rather to enable them to P-et a greater share of profits. This may be greatly to the detriment of other workmen or working in- other industries and to get even all round, swelling the cost of living higher and higher while in the industries that reach out furthest for high prices, they and their workmen survive by the sacrifice of many others. There seems one place that labour value can be started from in -fairness to all parties and the community that is based on the. cost of living. It is agreed that labour is entitled to a living wage. If so the cost of living must be the basis as to what is a living wage. There does not seem' anything impossible in being able to ascertain the cost of living from time to time by proper experts. Once the cost of living is ascertained and an adjustment of different classes of labour, it will then rest with capital to offer inducements to decrease the cost of living, and labour to nlay its part. It is only natural that this will not be done unless some inducements are offered to labour—ments that have in view a safe and sound policy, That the present Arbitration Act has not got. The true solution of the. cost of living is more or -less in the dark, while the Arbitration Act does not make tor efficiency, but counts each man’s efficiency at the one value, which is Quite wrong. We will assume the minimum wage is fixed, and encouragement will be sriven to bring about efficient workmen . while merit and ability will, of course, get, their, reward above incompetence, otherwise the individualitv of the worker will soon be lost, which would be detrimental to the whole nation. Labour, - capital, and brains

have all a pairt to play in bettering the conditions of humanity, and ; each should strive to play its part fairly to each other.

It is for brains to try to perfect a system that will improve present working conditions, and make for better relations between, capital and labour, and reduce cost of living. Labour cannot be satisfied working on chance, it, needs a fair living wage to the less competent (not necessarily the npn-tfyer).

The object of labour after getting the living wage fixed and a fair adjustment of difference in class of labour should be to reduce wages and the cost of living. The experts who find the true living wage watch the barometer of costs and they will say from time to time what is the) living wage which will vary as costs vary or as near as possible. The wage earners may look at reduction of wages as disastrous to them, but the main point is that this continual rising cannot for ever go on and it is not the amount of money they get that has any great weight in the matter, but the purchasing power of money is the true measure of value to both capital' and labour.

It is quite possible for 10s to have a very much greater purchasing power than £1 has to day and in that case the labourer or the capitalist would be better off with the altered conditions. The methods that are open to labour to improve the position and get efficiency fairly are many. For example there is what is called waste labourworkers doing work any old way, wasting energy, a'nd time lost to everybody. There is always a proper way to do work with the least loss of time. This needs trained labour working in combination like a' first class football team (I do not suggest labour to keep up their pace). One often sees a labourer, say 8 stone or thereabout, trying to do labour that requires the labourers of the best physique.

Scientifically there is a lot of wasted energy in labour that has got to come out to help to do the labourer’s share of reducing costs of living. . Trained labour makes for efficiency.

Proper placing of labour makes for efficiency. Contented labour makes for* efficiency.

Dissatisfied and unrestful labour makes for inefficiency.

Strikes and lockouts make for high cost of living. Labour must have fairness on some sound method of adjustment, something that is fair to the worker, the community and capital. It is quite possible that capital can offer better value to labour on lower cost of living than on highwith lower wages and greater purchasing power of money, less capital is required to finance the business and interest charges and overhead charges are reduced. ‘ Less profits are satisfactory to the capitalist because the value of purchasing power also affects all positions.

It seems quite possible that if the capital could buy with 10s what it noHv takes £1 to buy. industries could offer say 5 per cent, better value to its workers. There would be no inducement to labour to reduce wanes unless he had a sou'nd assurance although he received sav. only 10s in place of £1 he gets to-day, he would, through the reduction of cost of living, have even more actual value. . : 1

As this applies to all parties there is no real reason, that it cannot be brought about in place of high flying price daily reducing the £1 value. This system could go on until in real value £1 would only be equal to ss.

To the worker the cost of living must be his guide and the place at which his value as a worker, starts. Organised labour so far makes for unrest, building up fighting funds, and general trouble,, some unions getting moire than they are probably entitled to, others less, with no safe basis to control the value of labour with the rise and fall of the cost of living. ’ Capital, brains and labour have to put forth their greatest energy to get the greatest reward. Nature does not make us all alike. Nature provides, for energy and by this means responds.. The sun produces the greatest growth of crops when it puts' forth its greatest energy On this earth, but it does not grow all grain equal in value.