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HERE we can halt the
mobilisation story to strike a balance. Let us first explain something
that has bewildered and sometimes embittered a great many citizens, who
complain that the Ministry’s policy seems to take many twists and
turns. Now in its primary task of mobilising the nation’s manpower, of
regrouping industries and workers for total war, the Ministry has moved
forward fairly steadily. The twists and turns, the apparent
inconsistencies, arise from the fact, which is not clear to most people
who do not see the whole picture, that the Ministry’s policy must be
bent this way and that by the fortunes of war itself. After all, we have
powerful enemies, who are busy making their own moves.
So no matter how we
plan and organize, what happens here at home must necessarily be
influenced by what is happening abroad, perhaps at the other side of the
world. We could fill pages with examples, but perhaps two will be
sufficient.
The fall of France and
the entry of Italy into the war against us meant that our export of coal
was suddenly cut down, and we found ourselves with plenty of coal on our
hands at a time when men badly needed for the Forces and for munition
work. Therefore, many miners were taken out of the pits. But later we
discovered that the output of coal was falling, partly because the older
men who were left could not work at the pace of the younger men who had
gone, partly because few young men were entering the industry. So it was
necessary to bring back large numbers of miners, not only from the
Forces but also from war factories, were many of them had learned new
trades that they preferred to coalmining. Again, Japan’s rapid
occupation of great productive areas in the Far East seriously affected
our economy here. A large slice of the world from which we imported
Food
for the people all kinds of stuff was now in the hands of the
enemy. This explains why people might be asked to leave a trade for more
urgent war work and afterwards be told that they must return to that
trade. There is no real inconsistency here, for work at such a trade
might suddenly become urgent war work, simply because the fortunes of
war themselves had shifted.
Jenny Green can well be
excused for thinking she was moved without rhyme or reason, but her
movement was required because of her possession of skill, the value of
which fluctuates according to the changing nature of the munitions
demand. Jenny was born in June, 1921, and was employed in a spinning
mill until April, 1941, when it was closed as a result of concentration.
At the time she was unwilling to go to a Royal Ordnance factory near her
home. Nevertheless she was placed at the factory after considerable
persuasion by the Local Office. She was employed on shifts and worked
from 37 to 50 hours per week, and her average wage was between £3 and
£3. 50 pound per week. In June, 1942, she was asked to return to
cotton. She expressed unwillingness to return to the industry unless she
could return to her “own mill” which was closed. She was again
interviewed later and the Local Office was able to persuade her to
return to cotton with a fresh employer.
We have now switched
over from the defensive to the offensive. This means, too, a shift of
priorities. What are supremely important now are ships, aircraft, tanks,
and devices to counter U-boats. Some other stocks of munitions are now
so large that their manufacture will make little further demands on out
labour supply. This necessary movement of priorities, this shift of
emphasis from one kind of manufacture to another, has to be met by the
most careful planning. And here it will be easy to make a mistake. Some
unavoidable temporary unemployment may increase for a time the
unemployment figures, so that some people may jump to the conclusion
that the real manpower drive is over, that we even have unwanted
reserves of labour, when in truth the demand will be more urgent and the
drive harder then ever; when we are merely adjusting our production to
prepare for our offensive; when we are summoning all our remaining
strength to deliver the final knock-out.
Nearly
all the latest proposals of the Ministry have been designed to prevent
employers, faced with demands for increased output, from looking around
for more labour; to prevent workers from moving casually from job to
job; to make sure that the Department is able to keep track of workers
all the time so that no changes are made without good reason. The
necessary closing of some plants and opening of others, due to the
changed in production, will mean that war workers will have to leave
home and settle near their new jobs, although the changes are planned as
far as possible to release workers in places where there are other
urgent jobs to do.
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