Building Guilds.

Progress, Volume XVII, Issue 1, 1 September 1921, Page 7

Building Guilds.

Their Working in England.

An enquiry into the working of the Building Guilds in England by Mr. Ernest Selley at the instigation of Garden Cities and Town Planning has been published in the June issue of that paper. Mr. Selley is not connected with the Guild movement, but gives his report as a skilled, unbiassed investigator on similar subjects. As such the report makes excellent reading, and we feel sure our readers will be intensely interested in this movement which looks as if it held the key to the solution of so many of our labour difficulties. The writer says :

A year ago bodies of building trade operatives in various districts were passing resolutions in favour of Building Guilds. Many people thought these resolutions were mere expressions of pious opinion; but to-day Building Guild contracts are being carried out in different parts of the country, and the experiment is being watched with intense interest.

With a view to placing on record some of the results already obtained by the Guilds, I visited a number of the sites where Guild contracts were being carried out. It is too early, however, to submit the Guild schemes to a complete test; this will not be possible until some of the contracts have been completed and the accounts settled.

THE AIM OF THE GUILDS.

The Building Guild is an entirely new type of industrial organisation. One of its fundamental principles is declared to be the establishment of complete democratic control within the industry. The final control "rests with the people who do the work, and not the people who put up the money." The Guild guarantees continuous pay to its workers during wet time, frost, sickness and holidays, and devotes the whole of its surplus earnings not to dividends, but to the improvement of its service. It regards capital as the hired equipment of industry to be paid for, if required, at limited rates without powers of control." Moreover, it maintains complete publicity as to costs, charges and prices. The watchword of the Guild is Organised Public Service." The idea is to unite all branches of the industry—administrative,, technical, clerical and operativefor a common purpose : the of the community. The immediate aim is to build as rapidly and economically as possible the houses so urgently needed by the working classes. This should provide plenty of work for Guildsmen in the near future. They do not, however, intend to dissolve the Guilds, or to cease operations, when the housing shortage has been met : they mean to

contract for any kind of building work—churches, cinemas, public buildings, and even jobbing or repair work. (The Manchester Guild has completed £1,500 worth of plumbing.) They claim that the Guild will be able to tackle any job usually undertaken by the ordinary contractor. They say that the way to solve the problem of production is to substitute enthusiasm for fear as the driving force in industry. The speed at which the men work directly affects labour costs. The Guilds, it is said, will set up a new and better industrial order, in which those who work with their heads and those who work with their hands will co-operate freely in producing those things which the community needs. Co-operation will take the place of disunion. The team spirit will supersede the instinct of the horde. No one is to be in the industry to get what he can out of it for himself : rivalries will occur in the giving of service, not in the getting of it. Labour is not to be a mere commodity to be bought and sold, or used or cast aside indifferently. Guildsmen are to have a new status as free men, working in a democratic comradeship of service. Last, but not least, the Guilds are to revive the true craft spirit of the Middle Ages. The Modern Guild organisation is to provide scope for the craftsman which no industrial order has provided since the time of the Mediaeval Guilds.

Guildsmen claim that, apart from theory, experience so' far proves :

1. That industrial control by Guild workers has been successfully established;

That houses are being built quicker, better, and cheaper by the Guilds than by private contractors.

The object of this inquiry was to ascertain (as far as it can be discovered at present) whether the Guilds were making good these claims.

THE SCOPE OF THE INQUIRY.

It was not possible to visit all the schemes. London and Manchester were selected as representative areas. Five Guild housing contracts were inspected, and the work thoroughly investigated. The schemes visited included sites at Walthamstow and Greenwich (London Guild), Walkden (Bolton Guild), and Clayton and Weaste (Manchester Guild). These five contracts involve the building of 986 houses, with a possibility of additional contracts involving a further thousand houses if the work on the existing contracts is carried out exepditiously and economically. At.the time of the inquiry (March and April, 1921) no houses had been completed on any of these schemes; but at Walthamstow, Greenwich and

Clayton many houses were nearing completion, and the work was sufficiently advanced to provide the basis for a considered opinion as to how far the Guilds were likely to prove a success. The question was approached in a critical spirit, and information was obtained from :

(a) Unofficial sources : e.g., from guildsmen and others not in official positions; and (b) Officials : such as foremen, architects, surveyors, clerks of the works, borough councillors and members of the Borough Housing Committees.

The method adopted was, first of all, to inspect the building operations informally, that is, without introductions to any of the officials or staff. After obtaining information in this manner, I secured introductions to Guild officials on the site and proceeded to cross-examine them with the strictest impartiality. In all cases I found the officials willing to submit themselves to crossexamination and to place at my disposal, without reserve, such facts and figures as were available. The information thus obtained I submitted for verification to other persons not officially connected with the Guild schemes.

THE GROWTH OF THE GUILDS.

Before dealing with the building operations now proceeding under Guild contracts, it is necessary first to sketch the rapid growth of the Guild movement and to outline the structure of Guild organisation. # There are slight differences in details of organisation and practice in different areas, but the principles are the same throughout. The important thing to bear in mind is that the Guild movement is a natural growth, not an artificially created movement. The first Building Guild was formed by the operatives in Manchester in January, 1920. The Manchester District Committee of the Operatives and Bricklayers' Society, having considered the possibilities of a Guild, unanimously passed a resolution in favour of the scheme and referred it to the Manchester Branch of the Federation of Building Trade Operatives. From a delegate meeting convened by this latter body the first Guild came into existence. The movement spread with unexpected rapidity all through the country, but particularly in Lancashire. London followed close on the heels of Manchester. Today there are about a hundred Guild Committees in Great Britain. A number of these have reached the stage of being able to submit tenders and commence work. The first intention of the Manchester operatives was to form a North-Western Building Guild, but as applications for affiliation came in from various parts of the country, it was decided to form a National Guild. " v ;

London, while not affiliated to, the National Guild, declared that its principles and aims were the same ; At present a scheme for the setting up of a National Guild is under consideration, and it is expected that very shortly all, Building Guild Committees will be affiliated to one National Guild, with properly constituted regional councils, having

full powers to enter into and carry out all contracts, leaving to the National Guild the control of supply, credit, finance, insurance and policy. At the time of inquiry, the Guilds were affiliated either to Manchester or to London. Under the new scheme the London and Manchester Guilds will be termed regional councils. These regional councils will be practically autonomous, and will have representatives on the National Board.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE GUILDS.

In describing Guild structure I will deal with the London Guild, because it is. typical of Guild organisation throughout the country. The London Guild operates in Greater London, which is divided into eleven areas corresponding to the district sections of the National Federation of Building Trade Operatives. Area committees have been formed in seven of these districts. An area committee consists of representatives selected by every craft union in the local building industry. Each committee elects a chairman and secretary, and agrees to organise the supply of labour for building operations within its own area as and when required. The area committee is not a legal entity for the purpose of entering into contracts. The legal entity is the Guild of Builders (London), Ltd., which is a society registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1893 and 1913- The Board of Directors of this society consists at present of twelve representatives elected by the Building Trade Unions in Greater London affiliated to the National Federation of Building Trade _ Operatives. In addition, there are representatives of other functional organisations, i.e., architects, electricians and clerks; each of these groups has one representative. In addition to the above, each local Building Guild Committee elects one member to the board. The Guild of Builders (London, Ltd., by its rules, is competent to become builders, decorators, general contractors, and may functiin in all branches of supply whether as merchants, manufacturers or transporters. The Board of Directors is responsible for the appointment of a manager and headquarters staff, and for the fixing of their salaries. The general foremen are nominated by the local committees and ratified by the Guild of Builders. Departmental foremen are elected on the job by the different crafts concerned. No one in a managerial position can have a seat on the Board of Directors. Such persons can offer advice, but are not entitled to vote. The managerial department cannot do anything without the sanction of the directors. The manager is responsible, not only to his own staff, but to the whole of the organised Building Trade Operatives in the district. Tlr's gives him security without weakening the full democratic control by the workers. The term manager really does not appear in the Guild dictionary. Mr. Malcolm Sparkes, the London secretary and manager, describes his function as " the service of leadership." The structure of the local committees and the central managing

body does, in fact, make possible complete democratic control. A man may be a rank-and-file bricklayer and a director at one and the same time. The workmen have displayed much sagacity in the selection of their representatives on the Board of Directors, and ten months' experience has proved that an efficient directorate can be chosen from and selected by the rank and file. THE GUILD CONTRACT. The Guild form of contract, as approved by the Ministry of Health for Municipal Housing Schemes, provides that the price paid by the local authorities shall be the prime cost of material and

labour at standard rates. To this sum 6 per cent. is added to cover head office administration, plant, insurance, and, if necessary, interest on borrowed capital. In addition, there is an allowance of £4O a house to enable the Guild to guaranteee continuous pay to its workmen in all contingencies. Thus, with full publicity as to costs, the Guild removes all doubt as to the existence of invisible margins and hidden profits. The Co-operative Wholesale Society functions as joint contractors with the Building Guild, and the Co-operative Insurance Society acts as guarantor for the due performance of the contract. The Co-operative Wholesale Society advances the

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money for plant, etc., and acts as the Guild Bank. The Guild of Builders (London), Ltd., for instance, has an overdraft of £ 8,000 secured against payments due under contracts. The local authority makes weekly payments to the Guild for labour and materials and other authorised charges. Arrangements have been made by the Guild whereby a cheque presented at the local co-operative society enables the secretary of the local Guild to draw the wages for the week. The Guild undertakes to keep a record of costs in accordance with a system of costing approved or prescribed by the local authority. The allowance of £4O per house is paid into a pool, upon which each Guild Committee engaged in supplying labour is entitled to draw. Two sets of time sheets have to be made out — one for the time actually worked, which counts as cost; the other for wet time, sickness, etc., which comes out of the "pool." Thus, all Guilds alike pay into the pool, but draw out only what is necessary. Any surplus in the pool will go for the betterment of the industry, and the creation of a reserve. When this reserve is large enough, it is intended that all guildsmen shall be "on the strength."

CONTINUOUS PAY.

The Guild form of contract has been subjected to criticism by Building Trade Lmployers on the ground that : (1) the £4O a house is in the nature of a subsidy, and that in this matter the Guilds possess an unfair advantage over other employers. Guildsmen reply that there is nothing to prevent other employers paying their workmen continuous wages. The Guilds claim that continuous pay, instead of adding to cost, actually reduces it, because the men work better under this system; (2) it has been said that the allowance of 6 per cent, is too high for establishment charges. Guildsmen point out that this sum provides not only for head office expenses, but for maintenance of plant and insurance.

GUILD MEMBERSHIP.

A man who wishes to volunteer for Guild service fills in a form, which he can obtain at any of the Building Trade Union branches, in which he states the nature of his craft and declares that he is willing to work for the Guild when called up. There has been no difficulty in getting men to volunteer. There is always a long waiting list. When a man volunteers, his name is placed on a list in date order, and he is called up in that order. If he does not respond, his name is not struck out, but is placed at the bottom of the list. I came across numerous instances of workmen who had left good jobs and good pay to volunteer for the Guild. One general foreman I had met had left a job where he was getting £2 a week more than the Guild pays him. He said, speaking of the Guilds : " This is the sort of thing I dreamed of when a young man, but could never quite figure out." In another instance a district organiser of the Brick-

layers' Union threw up his organising work to lay bricks for the Guild. He felt that he would not be doing his duty unless he placed his skill at the service of the Guild. In another instance a man left the security of employment with the Port of London Authority to volunteer for the Guild. These cases are typical, and they suggest that there is something in the scheme of Guild organisation which evokes spontaneous enthusiasm. (To be Continued.)