THE SHORT WORKING WEEK.
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Consideration of a Few of the Many Puzzling Aspects of the Present Position of Labour—A Position which Enforces the Attention of Both Employer and Employed—Manufacturer, User, Driver and Mechanic Alike.
By "The Inspector."
ALL. SUCH QUESTIONS as the economic employment of mechanical haulage, when compared with other methods, the choice of a machine, the distribution and grading of loads, to
mention but a few that are normally of bread and butter interest to most of us that are concerned with the commercial motor industry, are, it must be freely admitted, for the time being completely dwarfed in importance by the increasingly widespread unrest amongst labour of all classes. We cannot " get down to brass tacks" with any proper scheme for motor haulage, appropriate to the exceptional post-war activities, until we begin to see daylight in this matter of increasing claims for altered conditions of hours, pay, surroundings, housing, food and relaxation that is being forced on our attention—far too precipitately, as many hold, for the "good of the cause."
The Commercial Motor is the users' journal, and as such, of course, is just as much concerned with the man who drives the vehicle or who maintains and repairs it, and, indirectly on. account of rising costs, with the man who builds it, as with the actual vehicle itself, and it therefore seems quite appropriate to the writer—the Editor agreeing—to devote some little space to a consideration of a few of the factors in the present labour position, which do not appear to have been considered quite so fully as the bare cry for more money to meet higher costs of living and more time to spend it in.
First of all, in the writer's opinion it must be conceded that there is not the widespread desire amongst the workers to proceed to drastic, down-tools and ignore the consequences methods that some would have us think. The average worker, and particularly the skilled and semi-skilled classes with whom we are chiefly concerned, whilst naturally anxious to better their condition, or, at any rate, to ensure that higher cost of living shall not impair it, is very loath to be committed to a policy of interrupted employment. I-heard it stated, not more than a few days ago, by one who is a first-hand authority on all labour problems' that, in his opinion, 75 per cent, of the skilled and semi-skilled trade unionists in the motorvehicle industry in their heart of hearts deplore unrest, uncertainty and interrupted employment, and that they would, were they not jockeyed into a false position, invariably prefer effective negotiations and , ventilation of grievances, without the acrimony that is, so often nowadays, imported into the opening phases of many of the present crop of labour disputes. In other words, in this country, the majority are all for constitutional adjustment as opposed to violent dislocatimf, and that is a factor that we would all do well to bear in mind, when there is considerable excuse for imagining that unrest is being fostered for the sheer sake of it. It is the very small minority who are the apostles of extreme methods, and the very large majority instead of opposing them are fearful of exercising their real power because of the probable opprobrium and natural dislike to appear to their fellow-workers to be reactionary.
Then, again, there is a genuine fear of widespread unemployment in many industries—a fear fostered by the return of the demobilized men and the admitted
difficulty of getting rid of the dilutee. He or she, they feel, will be as difficult to substitute as, shall we suggest, will be—indeed are being—the giant Government departments still vastly overstaffed and a.0
puzzling their brains for excuses to remain indispensable. I' ear of too much help and not enough work is at the back of almost all this demand for a shorter working day—and also a genuine conviction that the necessities of life are going to be very little cheaper for a long while to come—and not only the necessities but the unnecessaries, by no means a small factor to any of us who think we have a right to something else besides work.
The trade unionist is out to make the work go round and he is adopting this attitude from a conviction that is very difficult to discount. He cannot see that his only salvation is increased output, which invariably brings in its train lower costs and selling prices, and therefore greater demand. There is no other way out of the difficulty, and before he can improve his own financial condition on a value-for-money basis, he has got to get it into his head that, while he must have the opportunity to earn more, he must work more pro rata and not less. .
Another very great factor in. the whole situation is, in the writer's opinion, that this so-called welfare work (the child of a grandmotherly Ministry, the opportunity for a tribe of faddists and amateur sociologists, men and women—and particularly the latter) while it has furnished canteens and seats for machine tenders and similar frills, has done precious little to inculcate the spirit of self-help. The worker usually hates the very name of "welfare," strange reading though that may be to most of the thousands of selfsatisfied welfare workers. He will not be treated like a schoolboy and the women are but little more appreciative. He or she would much prefer to be left to arrange their "welfare" for themselves, and it is the wise employer who will recognize this and who will abolish the welfare tone—bury it with other war-time expedients—and, instead, will work hard to establish the principle of practical and effective sympathy and encouragement for the workers' own self-help. Undue spoon-feeding has got much to do with the present attitude. The organization that stands on its own hind legs is a far sturdier affair than the one that needs a state-provided and padded armchair from which to essay its activities.
The worker understands discipline and its value as a general rule. What finer' example of this than of the millions who are keen to appreciate team work in their favourite football pack It is this very team work that has got to be encouraged before any further, progress can be made. And, unless progress is made soon, we shall have gone so far round the vicious circle of increased costs of production and increased costs of living, that trade will most certainly slump terribly. It will die of very rich and very indigestible sustenance.
Once again, perhaps, we may remember that "transport is the life-blood of trade." Industrial unrest in the transport world is a far more vital thing to the nation than is a similar state of affairs amongst the waiters at hotels!