The New Trade Union Policy I T is not unfair to
say that British industry is still organized for war—internal war—and not for peace. Its condition resembles that of Europe before the War. There is a balance of power ; there are armed truces lasting for considerable periods ; but war is the only ending to a serious breakdown of relations. This state of affairs has not been materially altered by several excellent attempts to substitute for the spirit and apparatus of war the spirit and apparatus of peace. Mr. Lloyd George's Coalition Government tried, but failed, to popularize a National Council. Much greater hopes were entertained of the Whitley Councils, but these, too, have been disappointing in their results. Numerous industries, of course, have Joint Councils, and these are undoubtedly constituted on sound lines, but when they meet they meet rather to postpone the war which is assumed to lurk in the background than to compose a peace which simply does not admit of the thought of war.
Fortunately there is now a stronger hope than there has been for many years that British industry is about to change its ways, and for this we have largely to thank those trade union officials who have led the way. The first definite sign that the old policy of wrecking capitalism was to be abandoned, and that what Mr. George Hicks called a " constructive policy of co-operation " was to take its place, appeared at the recent Trades Union Congress. It is true that the resolution in answer to Mr. Baldwin's appeal for peace was in form distressingly unhelpful. It merely abused Mr. Baldwin and told him that before there could be peace he must either repeal objectionable legislation or ask for the verdict of the country at a General Election. As we pointed out at the time, however, this resolution was political, not industrial, in intention, and need not be taken at all tragically. The key to the real thoughts of the Congress was in what Mr. Bevin and Mr. J. H. Thomas, the proposer and seconder of the resolution, went on to say after they had disposed of Mr. Baldwin. It was obvious that by arrangement Mr. Bevin and Mr. Thomas were to develop the constructive policy outlined to the Congress by Mr. Hicks.
It must be noted that never before had the leaders of the Congress breathed this word " co-operation." Privately the leaders of trade unionism may have been convinced, as we are sure many of them were, that war is just as futile between management and men as it is between nations. They must have known that industry, if it is to succeed, requires collaboration, not enmity, jealousy and suspicion. The interests of both sides are identical. Everybody loses by war, even the nominal victor who sits triumphant surveying a field covered with wreckage and filled with suffering. Even from the point of view of a Socialist who confidently believes that " Socialism in our time " is a possibility, the policy of warfare is sheer madness. Socialists could con- ceivably reconstruct into the Socialist model a going concern, but they could make nothing of a heap of ruins.
Since the Trades Union Congress a good deal of progress in the new constructive policy has been made. As the speakers at the Congress foreshadowed, the attempt at co-operation is not by means of general conferences in which the politicians take part, and not even by means of conferences in which trades with quite dissimilar conditions are grouped together, but by talks between masters and men.strictly confined to individual trades. This. we are sure, is the best way now. Let us take as an example—by far the most notable example —the discussions which have been going on between the management and the men in the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company, under the inspiration of Sir Josiah Stamp. Here real imagination is at work. Sir Josiah has sympathy, generosity and understanding allied in a fortunate degree to a mental habit which is strictly cool, scientific and accurate. With all his imagination and foresight he is practical. He spoils nothing by an over-reaching ambition. The merit of his scheme, as we shall try to show, is that though the points seem small at first each one contains the possi- bility of a tremendous and beneficent expansion.
According to an interesting account of what is being done, which was published in the Daily News of Monday, there are to be fourteen preliminary joint conference) in the principal centres served by the railway, and several of these conferences have already been held. At each meeting so far a resolution has been passed unanimously declaring that the new policy of the L.M.S. is in harmony with trade union policy and pledging the men to further the business interests of the company. This resolutiOri brings us into immediate contact with one of the old causes of mistrust between men and management. The men have always suspected that if they were careful about the " business interests " of a company—if, in other words, higher dividends were earned—the profits would all go to the shareholders. The men have in effect said : " Why should we work harder to enrich other people ? " It is quite impossible that the men should accept such a resolution unless it is being made clear to them, as we understand it is, that they too will profit. It is essential that employers in every industry should frankly and generously encourage co-operation by guaranteeing that the men will gain, not lose, by it.
It has often been suggested that employers should prove their good faith by consenting to a " limitation of profits," but there are many pitfalls along this path —so many indeed that the path ought to be labelled " Closed to Traffic." The men would always suspect that though profits were in form limited there were " hidden " profits in the shape of allocations to reserve. The right way is to let the men share directly in profits by making it specially easy for them to have holdings in the company and to explain to them regularly the exact financial position and policy of the company. The men must be put in the position of knowing beyond a doubt that the bigger the profits the better it is for them. Every man will then rejoice in the successes of capitalism.
The Joint Councils and Departmental Committees which were set up on the L.M.S. two or three years ago will be put to new and more severe tests very soon. They will assume much more important duties. The Departmental Committees will have to consider specific suggestions for improving the methods of dealing with the.traffic, preventing delays, avoiding damage to goods, and increasing the efficiency of the service as a whole. Here again vast principles are sequestered in relatively small technical matters. For improvement in efficiency cannot conceivably be achieved without a considerable collision with a great many trade union customs. These customs have been built up by the men in self. defence, Will they consent to abandon them ? We undertake to say that they will not abandon them unless the employers—this is- true of all trades, not merely of railway w ork—contrive that the men shall feel that they are not burning their boats. Probably—almost certainly—the men would consent to an experimental abandonment of their trade union practices, but they must not be asked to abandon them beyond recall. In 'making this concession the employers would be on perfectly safe ground, because if co-operation in industry really comes about the increase in prosperity will be so great that neither side will dream of returning to the bad old methods.
At these Departmental Committees and Joint Councils the men will be asked to express their opinions freely and to suggest means of improvement. Here is a third small matter which is capable of indefinite expansion. We see the first blow being struck at that fatal barrier which has long divided the managing or thinking class from the hand-working class. What a change it will be when instead of one side trying to prove that wages must be cut, or at least cannot be increased, and the other side asserting that wages must be increased, or at all events cannot be cut, both sides avoid the necessity of ever reducing wages by planning together the vast economies that are inevitably linked with higher efficiency !
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