|
We now come, in this chapter of our manpower story,
to the second of the three basic principles on which the whole structure
of mobilisation rests, namely, to set that working and living conditions
are as satisfactory as is possible in war time.
First, a brief note about wages. On that famous
afternoon in May, 1940, when Regulation 58A was born, the
Minister of Labour and National Services was empowered to direct persons
to perform services under such terms and conditions as he may determine;
but in determining the terms and conditions the Minister was required to
keep in mind “the rate for the job,” that is, appropriate terms and
conditions provided for by collective agreement between organised
employers and worker, or in the absence of such agreement the terms and
conditions prevailing among good employers.
Obviously the only alternative to this was to put
the whole pre-war economic system into cold storage – or the dust-bin
– and declare a complete national moratorium, pay everybody on a
war-time functional basis and behave in fact like a thorough-going
Socialist State (Many people who have advocated service rate for workers
do not appear to have worked out the full implications of their
schemes.) And as only a few were ready to be as drastic as this, and as
in any event the country had to be mobilised for total war with all
possible speed, this was not a practicable alternative and “the rate
for the job,” and all it implied, became firmly embedded in the
scheme.
Inequalities of pay were inevitable, though they
are probably neither as widespread nor as shocking as many people
imagine. If a man is paid for a job at a basic rate, probably a pre-war
rate, and then you implore him and list employers to speed up the job
and work the longest possible hours at it, you can hardly be surprised
if after a time his wage packet is much larger and heavier than it ever
was before. He may now be drawing three or four times as much pay as
friends who are risking limbs and lives in the fighting services. This
is an unfortunate inequality.
But war-time inequalities and anomalies are not
confined to this worker-soldier level. Owing to the rapid speeding-up
piece-rate jobs in many war factories, there may be absurd inequalities
even inside a single workshop. Thus, a semi-skilled worker on such
piece-rates may contrive to even more in a week than the skilled
charge-hand or foreman who is held to be responsible for the work.
But then the whole structure of the war industry
had to be built up, indeed it had to be rapidly improvised, on the
foundations of our pre-war economic life. And all that the Government
could ensure was that national service would not result in anybody being
sweated or half-starved. There could at least be a reasonable minimum of
pay.
Safeguarding conditions
The policy on the wages cannot be taken alone. The
various orders for the general control and direction of manpower are
complementary: taken together they have a powerful stabilizing
influence. Moreover, these steps have taken with the consent and support
of the Trades Union Congress and the British Confederation of Employers.
The various steps taken may be summarized as follows:-
1)
The Conditions of Employment and National Arbitration Order,
1940, provided that any trade dispute may be reported to the Minister
and that, failing settlement by other means, he must refer the dispute
for settlement to the National Arbitration Tribunal. Under the Order, an
obligation is placed on employers to observe recognized terms and
conditions of employment settled by joint machinery. The Order also
provides for the recording of any departure from trade practices during
the war.
2)
Apart from statutory arrangements, co-operation between organised
workers and employers by the strengthening of existing joint machinery
has been encouraged, as has also the establishment of new machinery for
the settlement of wages and conditions. As part of this policy about 60
joint industries councils and similar bodies have been established since
the outbreak of war.
3)
Under the defence Regulation 58A, persons may be
directed to perform service under such terms, remuneration and
conditions of service as the Minister or the National Service Officer
may direct. In fixing these terms, regard must be paid to the agreements
of organizations of workers and employers or the decisions of joint
industrial councils or arbitration tribunals. Thus, a worker who is
transferred in the interests of war production from one employment to
another is required to take the recognized wages for the job.
4)
The essential Work Orders, the first of which was made in March,
1941, have now been applied to over eight and a half million workers.
These Orders make it illegal in the case of work scheduled under the
Order for an employer to dismiss a worker (except on the ground of
serious misconduct in the factory), or for a worker to leave his
employer, without the permission of the National Service Officer. The
Orders also provide for the payment of a guaranteed weekly wage in the
case of time workers and a guaranteed daily wage in respect of piece
workers. Before an undertaking is scheduled under the Orders, the
Minister satisfies himself that there is adequate machinery for
determining wages and conditions in the industry. No undertaking is
scheduled if there is reason to believe that the terms and conditions of
employment in the particular undertaking are less favorable than those
recognised under the Arbitration Order.
The general effect of the Essential Work Orders is
to control the movement of labour while providing necessary
safeguards for the protection of recognised standards of wages and
conditions and ensuring the payment of guaranteed wage.
NEXT
SECTION
|