Wages in Engineering
Page 32
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE engineering unions in this country are requesting for their members a formidable increase in wages, amounting to 15 per cent. This, if granted, would mean an addition of many millions of pounds a year to the total wages bill and would, undoubtedly, seriously affect the prices of all products with which engineers are concerned. It is, in a way, unfortunate that a large proportion of these is earmarked for export; for, in consequence, greater importance attaches Lo the matt:than would be the case if higher prices concerned the home market alone, although even here rises in cost in any direction have a cumulative effect and tend to spread wage demands over a much greater number of workers.
In the past the engineers have not been very generously treated. Men with a high degree of skill were paid little more than unskilled workers in other industries, but matters have steadily improved and now they have less cause for complaint in respect of discriminatory treatment. It may be that there is still some justification for the addition of a reasonable amount to the standard rates, but the unions and the workers should think tWice before they throw a large spanner into the works of our export markets. Already there is increasing competition from foreign rivals and only reliable products which can be sold at competitive prices will enable us to maintain our , foothold in many important areas of the world, whilst any question of expansion in them is becoming a grave problem. Neither in the engineering industry nor in any other, can we hope to carry on the process of continually increasing production costs without endangering sales and thus risking an all-round reduction in output with consequent unemployment.
Whatever sympathy may be felt for those employees who find difficulty in balancing their budgets, the nation has reached a time when the brake must be applied, for wages are by far the biggest factor in the selling price of most manufactured articles.
It is futile for the leaders of the engineers tc claim that the profits of the manufacturers can bc cut to any considerable extent. Shareholders ir general are not receiving exceptionally higt returns for their investments, whilst many import. ant concerns are experiencing great difficulties ir meeting the higher costs of raw materials and it finding finance for much-needed extensions anc the replacement of worn or obsolete machines One has only to study the financial papers t( realize to what expedients they are being driver in order to obtain, or even retain, sufficien working capital.