Fuel and Staggered Hours
The agreement reached on staggered hours in the engineering industry is an important step towards a mitigation of the fuel problems of the coming winter, for this particular industry covers well over two million workers, and its example is likely to be widely followed. The agreement, of course, involves a two-shift system, ▪ and arrangements both complicated and flexible have had to be made for payment of overtime in the case of night work, but it is an impor- tant concession by the men that there may be a reversion to Saturday morning work where necessary, and that for the hours between 8 and 12.3o on that day normal (not overtime) rates shall be paid. Conditions differ so greatly in various localities and in various branches of the engineering industry that there will have to be many special arrangements, both regional and district ; but these should not present great difficulty now that the basic principle is accepted.
be The result will not any total reduction in the consumption of
power, but a spread of the demand over a longer period so as to relieve the peak-load substantially. But behind all this the coal problem, of course, still looms. With the holiday period opening, a reduction in output is much more likely than an increase, and the prospects of reaching the target of zoo,000,000 tons in the year become steadily worse. On the present basis the hope of reaching it is negligible, though the results of failure to reach it will be calamitous. If the miners would consider such a proposal as was put forward by one of their leaders this week, for agreement to work through one week-end a month, the outlook would be altogether different. An appeal by the Prime Minister for such a decision might have a useful effect.
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