The Ministry of Labour has issued a most valuable and
interest- ing Report of an Enquiry into Works Committees (Stationery Office, 6d.), which throws new light on the relations between Trade Unions and Shop Stewards or Works Committees, and supplies evidence as to the practice in a number of large and well-conducted works. The statement of the Phoenix Dynamo Company of Bradford as to its system for fixing piece-work prices by "continuous arbitration" seems to us admirable. Disputes about piece rates are the most fertile source of trouble in industry. The Phoenix Company has a Time Study Office in which the piece rates are calculated. Any workman who has a grievance can go and argue the matter with the head of this department, and if the two cannot agree, there is an appeal to a committee of six, including the man himself and two of his fellow-workmen with three representatives of the firm. It is found that there are very few appeals.
Previous page
