The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 18, 1925, Page 11

S otememel Labor Exchange Reorganization in U.S.S. R. By I. RESSNIKOV. PART from isolated cases prior to the revolution and mainly during the war, we must record that the real development of the labor exchange began only after the February revolu- tion. Labor exchanges came into be- ing as mediatory organs and retained this form also in the beginning ‘of the post October revolution period, In connection with severe unemployment caused by the demobilization of the army and curtailment of industry, the labor exchanges extended their. func- tions considerably, paying doles to the unemployed, organizing dining halls and night. shelters for them, etc. i! the epoch of. military. Communism when: all. able-bodied: persons. were obliged sto ework »(with;.certain -excep- tions laid«dewn by law), labor ex- changes became state organs for the supply of labor power and formed part of local labor departments such as the sub-department of accountancy and distribution of labor power, whith “was the title under which they func- tioned until the introduction of the |’ new economic policy, At that time it was not possible to employ people at will (an exception was made in the cause of persons whose work is of a confidential nature and in the case of experts.) Since 1922,-when the new economic policy began to operate, labor ex- changes came again into being; whilst the obligation to engage labor thru the exchange remained. in force. Persons not registered at the labor exchange had no right to be engaged and employers of labor trangressing this rule had to answer for it before the law. XCEPTIONS _were made in cases demanding political reliability or special knowledge on the part of the person to be engaged, and also in case the labor exchange could not satisfy the demand of the hirer within the stipulated time. In such. cases. the hired persons were registered at the labor exchange after their ment. Thus even in the period of NEP the monopoly of the labor exchange in connection with the hiring of labor, and obligatory registration of agree- ment remained in force. _ Persons registered at the labor ex- change could not be engaged out of their turn; this applied to all profes- sions and occupations. INTERPRISES and institutions re- quired carefully selected employes with a definite qualification, As the labor exchange had to Observe the se- quence onthe register, it could not always give satisfaction to would-be- employers, and it invariably happened that considerably fewer persons were engagéd than were sent by the labor exchange. In view of this exceptions were al- lowed for a number of professions and posts when in accordance with spec- -jally published lists (such lists were published on several occasions) would- be employers could engage workers registering them subsequently at the labor exchange. N the’ ‘one hand ‘the obligation to hire labor thru the exchange re- sulted in those who had already found work, who went from one place of em- ployment to another, being obliged to go again thru the labor exchange thereby increasing the number of those on the register. On the other hand the fact that un- employed received doles and also en- joyed other privileges (they live almost rent free, pay very little for communal services and are almost free from taxation), caused a great in- flux into the labor exchange of ficti- ‘tious unemployed, namely people who registered not in order to get employ- ment, but merely to benefit by the privileges of unemployed workers. H°®”’ large was the percentage of these so-called unemployed can be judged by the results of the re-regis- tration and of investigations which were made almost everywhere, For instance an investigation of all the cases of unemployment was carried engage-_ As the result of this investigation 42,117 people were taken off the reg- ister of the labor exchange, namely 89.2 per cent of the total number of unemployed. iS was discovered that among those who had registered as unemployed there were people who kept two servants, were the owners of shops and frequently whiled away the period of unemployment in Crimean sana- toria. The labor exchanges were full to overflowing, and moreover many of those on the register were utterly un- qualified people. Y pptaiear esse to the date given by Comrade Hindin in his. pamphlet From the Labor Exchange to the Em- ployment Bureau, out of the total number of registered unemployed there were on July 1, 1924, 26.2 per cent who had never worked for wages, and 7.8 per cent who had not done any work since Jan. 1, 1922, while 50 per cent of the unskilled workers had never worked for wages. N July, 1924, there were in Lenin- grad among the 146,000 unemployed over 90,000 women, most of them with no qualifications whatever. Out of the total number of unemployed 60,000 work, or on the registration of that person on engagement without the as- sistance of the employment bureau, a note to this effect is made in the documents of the unemployed and as the same documents are required at the insurance bureau and for the reg istration of the contract, hence no abuses can take place. Experience has shown that such a méthod is also very convenient for the unemployed, as they need now only to go to the insurance bureau. SS se pgm of unemployed at the employment buréau is’ volun- tary. Moreover, the bureau does not register all unemploymed, but only in accordance with .the demand. Those who wish to be registered have to un- dergo an examination as to their qualifications. This enables the em- ployment bureau to send only people for whom there is a demand. The bureau does not give any certificates to the unemployed and is in no way responsible for them. The bureau does not make any charges to the un- employed for its services. A small in- itial fee is taken from the employers of labor. tS edd the abolition of the monopoly in connection with the engagement workers will be safeguarded. from the viewpoint of the trade ane this is of the utmost importance. MPLOYERS have the right to en- gage labor power to suit their re- quirements. But factory, workshop and local employe committees register the engagement of every newly en- gaged worker, Thus, tratle union con- trol over the engagement is even stronger than before. Moreover, spe cial paragraphs are inserted into col- lective agreements making it incum- bent on employers to give preference to trade union members, non-members |being engaged only in the event of none of the trade union members be- ing able to do the required work. At the same time the engagement of a nonunion worker must have the sanc- tion of the union.’ These measures are a sufficient guarantee that trade union members’ interests are safe, and jexperience has already given proof of this, NOTHER safeguard is that trade unions take a difect part in ‘the establishment of employment bureaus and in the formation of these bureaus’ committees. Altho there are represen- tatives of economic and state organs in these bureaus and committees, IT WORKS LIKE MAGIC were unskilled workers PEE from the villages»- To provide work for such an enormous number of people is of course extremely diffichlt even if it could be done systematically, and the fact that all these unemployed were registered at the labor exchange did not actually help them and greatly impeded the activity of the exchanges. That is why it was proposed in the summer of 1924 that the labor ex- changes be reorganized and be con- verted into employment bureaus. ~ The government monopoly in con. nection with the engagement of work- ers has been abolished. +¢ EEOPLE may be engaged and can find work for themselves without having recourse to the labor exchange. The labor exchange itself becomes an ordinary employment bureau and reg- istration there is voluntary. Unemployment doles and various privileges .are henceforth not de- pendent on registration at the labor exchange, but are granted in accord- ance with the economic position of the unemployed person. Unemployment doles are paid at the proper insurance bureaus and their branches. In order to prevent doles being paid to those who have already found work, the fol- lowing method has been adopted in out in Moscow in the autumn of 1924.’Leningrad: when a person is sent to of workers does not mean that private employment bureaus can be estab- lished. In accordance with the law, the peoples’ commissariat of labor and its organs retain monopolist rights as intermediaries in the connection with the engagement of workers. In the interest of proper control all contracts between employers and workers must be registered. As to the control of unemployment thruout the country, trade union members have to register as before with their unions, which will be found quite sufficient. But of course those who are not registered in the employ- ment bureaus, cannot be properly con- trolled. But if one takes into consid- eration that there are not more than 5-6 per cent out of the total number of manual and brain workers not register. ed in trade unions, one can see that only a very smajl number of people can escape control, Thus; statistics will not suffer much from this reform. Such in general is the character of the reform. oo dealing with the methods of its application and with its re- sults, it is essential to ascertain what influence trade unions will have under the new conditions on the engagement of labor power, and also to what ex- tent the interests of the organized the predominance-of trade union influ- _ ence in them is thereby guaranteed, Of course the reform of the labor exchange does not solve the question of unemployment. But it certainly makes it easier to help the unem- ployed. And we see already that after the reform the number of unemployed sent to work is growing, and this in spite of the fact that those provided with temporary work are not taken into account, 4S iperd reform is all the more impor- tant as it has given an opportun- ity to ascertain the exact extent of un- employment, which turned out tobe considerably less than the number of registered unemployed gave one rea- son to assume. At the same time it has made it much easier to give the unemployed effective help, REMEMBER MAY 23! The John Reed Junior group is ar- ranging a surprise party and dance Saturday, May 23, at 1902 W. Division St. All friendly organizations are re- quested not to arrange other affairs on that date. Getting a DAILY WORKER sub or two, will make a better Communist ‘of you, . —__—- a