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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0196.PDF
400, which was accepted. By the time the end of this number was reached the men had become fairly expert at the job and were making good wages— some of them as high as £7 per week. Then the firm tried to cut the rate, and, naturally enough, there was trouble, and in the end the Chief Industrial Commissioner's aid had to be invoked. Now, we have little or no sympathy with the class of men who have made their country's need their opportunity for outrageous demands, with the threat to " down tools " if everything they demand is not conceded, but we confess at the same time we have as little sympathy with the employer who tries to get out of a bargain with his workers for the sake of putting extra : profits into his own pocket. It is not only that the act itself is perilously near the immoral, but it most certainly tends to bring about that very restriction of output which the employer himself is the first to deplore. It is quite easy to see the point of view of the workers and their representatives. Why, they ask, should they be required to turn out ten articles for a certain payment when, by taking things more easily, they can get the same money for seven ? Or, to put it another way, if the employer whose factory is run on the piecework system, has fixed in his mind a maximum wage beyond which he objects to pay his men, why should output not be restricted to a point which will keep the workers within that maximum rather than put in that extra effort which will bring wages above the fixed point arid thus invite a reduction of the piecework rates ? This seems to us to be where the shoe pinches. Figures have been submitted to us which show- that since the premium bonus system was put into operation in May of last year in one of the largest factories in the Midlands, production has increased by more than 100 per cent. all round. (Mr. Kellaway, the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Muni- tions, gave some figures in the House on Monday *~*«- on the increase of production resulting from the premium bonus system. These increases are—Guns, 48 per cent.; machine-guns, 20 per cent.; aeroplanes, 42 per cent.; aeroplane engines, 68 per cent.; shipbuilding material, 25 per cent.) That'is emin- ently satisfactory as far as it goes, but there are two inevitable reflections that arise out of it. The first is that there must have been an appalling amount of "slacking going on while the daywork system was in operation in the same factory, and when we attempt to translate this into terms of machines that we might have had at the Front but did not on account of the slacking, we are simply aghast that menPcould so let down their fellows who are fighting for them in the trenches. There is only one term that can justly be applied—criminal, and even that is not strong enough. Allowing that there is approximate correctness in the statement that output is still 40 per cent, below maximum, then it follows the original production before the premium bonus system was brought into effect was a little more than one-third o f the possible maximum. The figures speak for themselves. The second reflection is that it is quite clear that if we want to see our factories working to maximum capacity the whole of the questions relating to labour and its reward will have to be organised and put on a substantial and permanent basis. Probably the best means of achieving this would be by the appointment of a Board on the lines of those suggested by the Whitley Report. One thing is quite clear, and that is that in spite of all the conferences between Government Departments, em- FEBRUARY 21, 1918. ployers and workers, the position is still very far from satisfactory. When each side has presented its case it becomes manifest that there still exists a great deal of mutual suspicion and distrust. As to which side is mostly to blame for this we do not at the moment presume to say, but this much is certain, that not only for the purposes of the war but for the sake of British industry and commerce afterwards these mists of doubt and suspicion will have to be cleared away, else we shall never recover our position in the world of trade. The distressful country has another Ireland grievance ! Some weeks ago it became Aircr ft known that the Government had given Manufacture, some measure of attention to Ireland as a possible factor in aircraft construc- tion, and Irish manufacturers and workers were delighted at the prospect of the sister isle obtaining at last what they call her " fair share " of war work. Now it seems that the Air Council has decided other- wise, and for the present, at least, there is no intention of building aircraft factories on the other side of the St. George's Channel, nor, apparently, are contracts to be placed with Irish firms. The attitude of the Air Council is summed up in a communication from the Hotel Cecil to the All-Ireland Munitions and Government Supplies Committee to the effect that the Council's requirements for aeroplanes are fully placed at present, but the matter of Ireland and Irish facilities was being kept in view should oppor- tunity arise for utilisation in future. This communication has raised a storm of protest from the Irish newspapers. The Freeman's Journal, among others, is terribly annoyed about it, and says : " We are told every day that the need of men for the Army is intensifying the problem of skilled labour for war-work in Great Britain. In this crisis Ireland offers her help. Her manufacturers can find ample employment for a satisfactory supply of skilled labour. The Government can supply the necessary machinery here as easily as it supplies such machinery in England. Some of our firms have already all the machinery that is required. Indeed, we know of one case where an English manufacturer sought to borrow machinery from one of the Irish firms to which contracts are still refused. This state of affairs is an injustice to Ireland, and—what is more serious at the piesent time—it is an injustice to the British Army in France." We do not intend to discuss the decision of the Air Council in terms of expediency. That decision may be right, or it may be wrong, as the case may be. On the balance of probabilities it is assumedly right, inasmuch as the Council knows the programme of construction decided upon, and how our manufacturing facilities stand in relation to it. The Council has, as a plain matter of business, determined that, for the present at any rate, it has no need of the facilities offered by Ireland. And, so far as we are able to see, that is the only factor that really matters. What does appeal to us as being distinctly humorous is the reference to " another injustice to Ireland." We fail to see it. Ireland complains that she is not getting her fair share of war contracts. Well, what is her fair share ? We do not know, nor are we going to try to work out a basis of proportionment of war contracts which would be " fair " to the point at which our Irish contemporary would express itseli satisfied that "justice" had been done. But we 192
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