new plan for labor substitution in munition factories of great britain

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Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAIN Source: Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vol. 5, No. 1 (JULY, 1917), pp. 25-28 Published by: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41829056 . Accessed: 19/05/2014 01:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.78.108.37 on Mon, 19 May 2014 01:56:17 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAIN

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAINSource: Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vol. 5, No. 1 (JULY, 1917), pp.25-28Published by: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of LaborStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41829056 .

Accessed: 19/05/2014 01:56

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

http://www.jstor.org

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Page 2: NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAIN

MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 25

formity of decisions and practice in all the tribunals. In cases where decisions did not accord with established and recognized principles, but were of insufficient importance to justify an appeal, the min- istry, through the chairmen of tribunals, assisted in bringing about the desired uniformity.

The right of appeal by the ministry of munitions was frequently exercised and important decisions were rendered upon the interpreta- tion of, and the procedure to be observed by, tribunals under the munitions acts.

In many cases the minister either on his own initiative or upon the request of the judge was represented by counsel at the hearing of appeals. Generally speaking, the cases in which the minister so appeared were those in which questions of substantial and far-reach- ing importance to munitions works and workers were involved or those which related to the administration of the munitions acts by the ministry or other Government departments.

In order that the judgments of the courts of appeal for munitions cases should be accurately recorded and made accessible to Govern- ment departments, to the chairmen of tribunals, and to others inter- ested in the working of the munitions acts, arrangements were made for the publication of cases in a convenient form. As each part ap- peared it was circulated to chairmen of tribunals, reports officers, and generally to the Government departments immediately con- cerned with the munitions acts. These reports were found of great value in securing uniformity of decisions between the many different tribunals and formed a ready and convenient reference for the solu- tion of the many questions put to the department upon the interpre- tation of the munitions acts.

NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES , OF GREAT BRITAIN.

[Reprinted from the British Board of Trade Labor Gazette for May, 1917, p. 161.] PARTICULARS OF NEW APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS.

An appeal for volunteers on a new plan has been set on foot by the Director General of National Service.

Under the old scheme a general appeal was made to all and sundry, and the volunteer was invited to offer his services for any work to which he might be sent. The essence of the new scheme is that, instead of this general appeal, a direct and specific appeal is being addressed to the various trades to prepare and carry through schemes of substitution by means of joint committees of employers and work- people in each organized trade; or, in the less well-organized trades, through the local national service committees referred to below.

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Page 3: NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAIN

26 MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

The substitutes so obtained will be called "substitution" volun- teers. It does not matter whether they have already offered their services as "national service" volunteers or not. "Substitution" volunteers will not be required to sign Form N. S. V. 1. All volun- teers are now allocated to their work by the substitution officers of the national service department, and not through the employment exchanges.

A " substitution " volunteer will not be asked to leave his employ- ment except to take up a definite job on work of national importance, on terms which will be clearly notified to him. If the terms are unacceptable to him, he will be free to refuse the offer without going before any appeal court. He will either take the place of a man of military age and fitness who has been called up to join the colors, or he will reinforce the labor supply in industries of special national importance for war purposes. In either case he will have the satis- faction of feeling that he is engaged in direct war work as truly as the men who are actually with the colors. The terms of employment as regards wages are set out in the statement appended hereto ; and it will be seen that the volunteer is not now asked to make any pecuniary sacrifice by transferring his services from private to national work.

Some of the trades which have been or will be approached under the new scheme are well organized, with central and local associations of employers and workpeople; such are the building trades, the print- ing and bookbinding trades, the woodworking and furnishing trades, the pottery trades. These four trades have been dealt with by direct negotiation with the associations concerned, and other well-organized trades are being dealt with in the same way. Central joint commit- tees have already been or will be set up in each trade by the repre- sentatives of the trades themselves, and these committees will be assisted by joint local committees similarly constituted.

Many other trades, however, are less well organized or are organ- ized on local rather than national lines, and there are, in addition, large groups of men in nonindustrial employment, such as clerks, shopkeepers, and shop assistants, warehousemen, male domestic serv- ants (indoor and outdoor), and men who are unoccupied. It is therefore proposed to have a local national service committee in every urban area to deal with these unorganized trades and miscellaneous classes. These committees will include both employers and employed.

Large numbers of men of military age and fitness, who are ur- gently required in the Army, are at present employed in munition works and in other work of national importance, but they can only be released if a sufficient number of suitable substitutes are forth- coming. Employers' associations and trade-unions can assist in ob- taining these substitutes in one of two ways. If the trade is so well organized that it could most usefully cooperate with the national

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Page 4: NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAIN

MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 27

service department through a joint trade committee they are invited to communicate with the director of the general trades section of the department, St. Ermins, Westminster, S. W. 1. In other cases they are asked to communicate without delay with the secretary to the local national service committee, or, if that officer has not yet been appointed, with the town clerk or the clerk to the urban district council, as the case may be.

Terms of Employment of " Substitution " Volunteers.

I. Transfer to another occupation whether in the same or another district . - A volunteer, on transfer to another occupation, either in the same district or in another district, shall be paid the time rate per hour of the occupation from which he has been transferred. When in any occupation from which the volunteer is to be trans- ferred there is no recognized time rate a rate shall be fixed by the director general of national service after consultation with the parties concerned.

Should the rate specified in paragraph 1 be less than the standard time rate paid in the occupation to which the volunteer has been transferred, the rate of the volunteer shall, b}^ equal weekly incre- ments over a period of one month, be raised to such standard time rate. The time rate so provided shall be the time rate of the volun- teer so long as he is engaged on time work proper.

When the Volunteer is transferred to an occupation other than that in which he has been ordinarily employed he shall be engaged primarily in simple operations, and as he qualifies he shall be pro- moted to the higher grades of the occupation or to another occupa- tion. The probationary period of four weeks shall be observed only on transfer to a new occupation and not on each promotion.

Subject to the guaranty provided in paragraph 1, the rates of wages and working conditions for volunteers shall be those customary for the same work in the same factory.

II. Transfer to other employment in the same occupation in an- other district . - A volunteer on transfer to other employment in the same occupation in another district shall be paid his former time rate or the time rate of the district to which he is transferred, whichever is the higher.

III. Transfer to other employment in the same occupation in the same district . - A volunteer on transfer to other employment in the same occupation in the same district shall receive the rate applicable to the district.

IV. Subsistence and traveling time. - Subsistence allowance and traveling time shall be paid in accordance with the following scheme in the cases of transfers I and II, above.

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Page 5: NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAIN

28 MONTHLY BEVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

The workman will receive over and above his wages the following allowances :

(a) If brought from a distance beyond that which he can reason- ably travel daily, railway fare at the commencement and completion of the work for which transferred ; and, where necessary, subsistence allowance at the rate of 2s. 6d. [60.8 cents] per day for seven days per week.

(&) If within daily traveling distance (exceeding half an hour each day) the value of the workmen's tickets and one hour's traveling time per day at the rate of time and a half.

( c ) If within daily traveling distance (not exceeding half an hour) the cost of workmen's tickets, or, if they are not avail- able, third-class tickets.

Subsistence and traveling allowance will be paid by the firm em- ploying the workman, with the wages.

V. Out-of-work allowances . - If, after being called up and em- ployed, a volunteer is discharged by his employer after completing the work allotted to him, and no further work is available for him, he may be entitled to receive, whilst no work is available for him, an out-of-work allowance at the rate of 3s. 6d. [85.2 cents] per day (including Sundays) for a period not exceeding four weeks, the first payment to be due one week after the commencement of unemploy- ment.

Any question which arises as to the interpretation of the foregoing provisions shall be determined by the director general of national service.

WOMEN RECRUITS FOR WORK ON FARMS IN GREAT BRITAIN.1 In Great Britain the services of women on land will be more im-

peratively needed than ever owing to the withdrawal at the end of May of the 40,000 soldiers lent by the Army to do the spring work in the fields. The new Women's Land Army of the National Service is being organized to meet this need and the work is being greatly helped by the existence of a small nucleus of trained women, or at least of women with some experience on the land, known as the Women's National Land Service Corps. In February, 1916, condi- tions having become serious and promising to be more so owing to continual drain of men off the land, the Women's Farm and Garden Union, the only association which dealt with women's outdoor work before the war, sent a deputation to the board of agriculture, with the result that in subsequent negotiations ground was allowed to the asso- ciation for the training of women for land cultivation. This led to the immediate formation of the Women's National Land Service

1 Christian Science Monitor, Boston, May 14 and June 7, 1917.

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