The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 22, 1925, Page 11

Union Delegation ation P. Nineteen » Miners’ Fe- ers’ Federa- 2 1921, . Vice- on several .. ident, Inter- ee. Member ing (Yorks). public bodies , parliament- ‘on congress, ucil, 1923-24. Wember, cen- welfare and g examining 89.} Founder 4 priginated and General hed in »1887, al [rote QR movement: veral : parlia- © ed for North ral secretary transport and Now secret- ‘national De- ated Union. songress gen- Member of 1ee, trades »ciated with ace 1884, In- d leaders of as William d other pio- , with prince il his return neer of shop nder of Shop . cial of this etirement as twelve years t.. Elected to. ion congress, 38s each year tember, 1925. P,. A pioneer sm and held Prior to ap- retary of As- aotive Engin- Elected or- union, 1910. ation boards. of the union, ? labor party 121. Elected bi Ss gen- of la- d. Three i , elected ated with la- ada for many ‘) member of seretary and ssistant gen- | department, cretary, 1917, ineering and ‘deration for ly appointed ‘cupying this es union con- 21, re-elected term ending sh g Trades yer) social-de- | years. Mem- luncil for six tary, subse- as trades. , West Sal- )ventry, 192% ssful arbitra ther disputes, m{: of dele- Thru Courtesy of the International Pub- lishers Co. generally inadequate, Therefore, like soldiers whose rations are insufficient, the Russian industrial workers deserted and fied from the towns to the villages where food could be got. This again led to conscription of labor in 1920 under rigorous condi-. tions. Its results were entirely unsatisfactory, and it was finally yu sae decree of the Central Executive Committee of March rd, é The Fifth Congress of Trade Unions in September, 1922, recommended that wages be paid in money. This change was forced not only by material but by moral conditions. The Com- munists could enforce a very high level of discipline and devo- ‘tion in their own ranks, but they could not’ bring conscripted labor into line as a body. _They could not even stop the non- party and un-political workers from putting money in their pockets by filching immense quantities of goods‘and by falsify- ing their ration cards. For example, by 1921, though the urban population amounted only to 12,000,000, 22,000,000 were draw- ing rations. : mister sags But with the New Economic Policy wages, which had be- come little more than the pay of a rationed labor army, became again the subject of free contract, of Trade Union negotiation, and of Governmental regulation. And with currency stabiliza- ‘tion, wages in kind, already steadily in decline,.began definitely to disappear. In so far as they still exist, their value is deducted fromthe ‘money rate at current open-market prices. The optimistic theory of War Communism that a worker would for an equal living wage give his full energy, experience and efficiency to the public good, was not justified by the expe- rience of the years, 1918-1921. It has now given place to the plan of paying a living wage and getting the best possible pro- duction by further awards, such as piecework payment, special rates for specialists and prospects of promotion. This plan is applied even by the Communist International to those employes who, not being members of the Party, cannot be relied on to do their best without pecuniary recognition. extend the system to employes in State trading and Co-opera- tive concerns so that by paying them a percentage on their sales, their efficiency may be raised to that of the salesmen in private trade. At present in retail trade, the private tradesman, the State and the Co-operative salesman are estimated to compare in efficiency as 118:92:89. : Wages During the Change to Money Payments.—-During the time when the currency was daily falling in value, food rations held.a large place in-wages and money wages‘were reckoned in “goods” roubles on.a system much like that which developed under similar conditions in Germany. At first certain industries: calculated wages in terms of the rising cost of their own prod- uct; for example, in terms of a “flour rouble,’ a “leather rouble,” etc. But this caused almost as great inequalities and inequities as the previous War Communist practice of allowing payments to workers in the goods they produced. These methods of pay- ment were accordingly converted into general payment in “goods roubles.” A minimum budget, representing the daily needs of an average worker was drawn up; the cost of this bud- get was determined, eventually, as often as four times a month; and the value of the “real” or “goods” rouble was calculated ac- cordingly. The result was a living wage, though a very low one. For the cost was often, as in the Don Basin, fixed much lower than it really was so as to help industry back towards a paying Money Payments.—In May, 1923, wage rates began to be fixed as a percentage of the total minimum budget. But as soon as there was a stable gold currency (Tchervonetz) this system too began to go; and an order of the Supreme Economic Council, September 13th, 1923, brought in payment.of government sal- aries in gold roubles, It was, however, thought that to pay all workers wages at once in gold roubles would unduly burden industry and unbalance the gold rouble. Such gold payment was, therefore, brought in gradually and first made applicable to transport workers, metal workers, chemical workers,. the Don Basin and the Urals. With the exception of the Urals, there was, however, in the winter of 1923-24, a fall of the real value of the gold rouble to 80 per cent. on an average, explained elsewhere (See Currency) which called for additional bonuses. But with the spring, this last crisis, caused by the collapse of the old paper rouble, was over, and it was decided to give up the complicated calculation in goods roubles and get on as quickly as possible with payments in gold roubles, which had by then gained gen- eral confidence. There were, however, great difficulties of detail in carrying this out. One was the want for a time of new cur- rency of small denominations; which caused losses to the work- ers. This was first dealt with by temporary paper issues and then by the new metal silver and copper currency. The want of working capital in industry still causes delays in payment, but these matter much less now that the currency is stabilized and arrears do not lose their value. They are, how- ever, the main cause of discontent at present. Last autumn ar- rears were about 10 million g. r., but last winter they were re- duced to about 3 million. The delays seem generally to be only a week or so, though there were cases in the Don Basin of Sep- tember wages not paid until November. Complaints were also made to the last Congress that too large a proportion of the wages was paid in credits for goods in the Co-operatives. Present and Pre-War Wages Compared.—It is almost im- possible to compare wages under War Communism with y e ~ It is now proposed to. Copyright In the United States by the International Publishers Co. All Rights Reserved, Copyright by the Trades Union Congress General Council in Great Britain. _ return to money wages under free contract there has been a steady rise amounting from 150 per cent. to 200 per cent., and a steep rise between October, 1922, and September, 1923, amounting to as much as 70 per cent. The average wage in 1922 in the heavy industries was still in money little more than half the pre-war wage, though this was exceeded in some. cases. The general average of wages seems now to be approach- ing three-quarters of pre-war rates, being over half pre-war in the heavy and nearly full pre-war in the light industries In May, 1924, the percentages were: all industries, 68.3 per cent.; food, 116.9 per* cent.; paper, 103.5 per cent.: printing, 98 per cent.; leather, 96 per cent.; textile, 85 per cent.; chemical, 82 per cent.; mining, 52.1 per cent.; railways, 41 per cent.; metal work- ers, 31.9 per cent. In October, 1924, metal workers had been raised to, 56 per cent., railway workers to 50 per cent., and textile, to 91 per ceht. Wages in Moscow generally are 93 per cent pre-war and in Leningrad 81.6 per cent. But figures can only be depended on in so far as they show a general movement. The A. R. C. T. U. now intends to raise wages in heavy industry and transport so as to reduce inequalities, Inequalities of Wages.—This difference in the rate of wages _between heavy and light industry is due to the much greater difficulty in restoring heavy industry to a business basis. It works exclusively to State order and was therefore more affect- “ed by the stress of the change to a business basis. On the other hand, the light industry producing largely goods of prime neces- sity could at once find its home market. While private. business, picking out the most profitable enterprises without regard for the general public interest and with reduced overhead charges for national purposes, could pay the best wages of all. Thus during the early period of the New Economic Policy, wages in private industry were 25 per cent. higher than in nationalized industry. There are also still considerable differences in wages be- tween localities and between industries. These differences have caused great dissatisfaction and cases arose, as in Yaroslav, where the Provincial Trade Union Council illegally suspended a collective agreement on that account. This difficulty was dealt with by the State giving more orders to heavy industry and more working capital, so enabling it to raise the lowest rates. The total of this assistance given in 1923, reached 700,000,000 gold roubles. Wage Scales and Categories.—The next difficulty which be- came serious in the latter part of 1923, was the “Scissors” crisis (See Agriculture). In order to close the “Scissors,” wages had to be kept as they were or even be lowered. For these, qd ounes reasons'a regulation:of wages was Gidericken kgpttettiee i ment. The wage scales as fixed by the Trade Unions were revised so as to reduce them generally and raise the lowest rates. The new Official scale is as follows:— . Jk Hi Unskilled labor. Skilled labor. Categories. ...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Coetitients *: ..5..30. 22: *15° 238 22 ‘25 28 31 35 Experts— Inferior. ‘ Superior. Categories . ....... Baie: SHERI ¢ Sia “Mo eee. Co-efficients . ......4.2 46 5.0 5.5 C2 67:73 Ot The general application of this uniform scale is proceeding rapidly. In January, 1924, it.was already applicable to 44 per cent. of the industrial workers; and 90 per cent. of the transport workers, or 75 per cent. of the whole. ay is Since the closing of the “Scissors,” there has beén a rise of) |f)0° wages as above described. Wages and Benefits—-When to the rates of money wages are added the advantages represented by contribution from the industry for social insurance, worth from 15 per cent. to 20 per cent. of the wage; for educational institutions, worth 5 per cent.; for Factory Committees, worth 2 per cent.; and for welfare work required by the Labor Code (holidays, working clothes, grants for technical classes, etc.), worth any money up to 25 per cent.; and when to these are again added the advantages in respect of State and Municipal services, in the shape of relief from, or re- duction of, rent and rates, and in the form of free tickets, ete., for excursions and entertainments—it seems safe to say that the present pay of the Russian worker is very much better than pre-war. Productivity of Labor.—The productivity of Russian indus- try compares not unfavorably with that of Europe generally, where there has been a marked falling off in consequence of the war. Thus as the daily output of a coal miner in England was as low as 55 per cent, in 1921, and only 82 per cent. in 1922, in Russia the figure for a Don Basin coal miner was 77 per cent, Wages have increased more rapidly than individual out- put. Between 1920 and 1924, wages increased five times but individual output only doubled. Between October, 1923, and March, 1924, wages increased 15 per cent., but the output only 8 per cent. Wages being now about 68 per cent. pre-war gen- eral productivity seems to be not more than about 60 per cent. The improvement is due to a more intensive activity, In pre-war times the productivity of a British worker as compared with a Russian worker was as 1.55:1.16. The average. working day was ten hours, but working days in the year were no more than 252, In 1921, with an eight-hour day, they were 214; in 1922, 254; in 1923, 263, or 88 per cent. of the calendar working ~ days. Allowing for the liberal leave now given by law, and the usual average for sickness, this is fairly satisfactory. 4 + war wages or with. wages at the present time. But since : (To be continued in next issue.)