British Trades Union Congress Looks Ahead

...The TUC therefore, in the domestic field, concerned iUelf more with the postwar reconstruction of industry thin working conditions within it...

...for equal pay for equal work) for the legal enforcement of minimum wages...

...The labor movement has realized that within a capitalist society organized on prewar lines, improved conditions are obtainable and that if workers are to enjoy a rising standard of living radical changes in the structure of industry and aociety are essential...

...It called for greater attention to be paid by the workers to the efficiency of their industry...

...fgeirtfftT'r it was a forward-looking Congress, one jjUfr faced the groat problems of peace and framed .-alley and sought the power to aid in their solution, ft sssks the movement better suited to assume its re0ggfUUtimi steps ware taken to overhaul the trade ptiM structure, and particularly to eliminate the possiU^j...

...The original Beveridg* plan provided for unlimited benefits subject to compulsory training...

...This includes increasing output and productivity, the necessity for which within British industry has been made only too obvious by the conditions in the mining and cotton industries, in both of which production has been revealed as vaatly inferior to that in the comparable American industries on a production per man-hour basis...

...Fearful lest these powers should be abused and interfere with collective bargaining, the trade unionists were critical of them...

...Industrislly, on the TUC rests ths power to achieve ita objects while on the political front it leans on the Labor Party...

...The Congress therefore cannot interfere with the organisation of one union or ss between one union and another...

...The TUC defined ita relationship to industry by accestutf greater responsibility toward* it and favored ooatinuanc* of joint production committees in peace toot It drew ita blueprint for the reconstruction of industry which included the public ownership of fuel wt power and transport, and the state control of private enterprise industries through Joint Industrial lesres...

...Above all, closer unity was urged even st the expense of certain union Interest...

...T*HE Congress alao took steps to extend trade union education...

...Another article will •Harass the foreign policy position ef the British trade anions...

...Nothing, for instance, is comparable in this country with the work dona by the students at Wisconsin University under Professor Selig Perlman...

...Dklkgates were not blind to the fact that the carrying out of the proposals presented to the Congress to assure full employment required some alteration in trade union structure...

...The laat ha* been overcome by setting up machinery for centralised negotiation for national agreements, which sre the general rule In Britain, but if the trade unioa movement ia to carry out effectively the great rsponsi...

...for the extension of the powers of Trade Boards in lower psid and poorly orgsnized industries...

...jurisdictional quarrels, to merge small unions osd fedsrelise unions industrially, and to strengthen collective bargaining machinery through the extension of putt industrial councils with independent chairmen...

...Congress carried a resolution which drew attention to the growing danger of cartels and clandestine industrial arrangement* and which asked the government to appoint a Commission to inquire into the trtivilies of existing cartels involving British trusts...

...In all these ways the trsde union movement showed Itself conscious of the power of nesrly seven million orgsnized workers...

...It favors, however, perma¦** joint production committees and wiahes to continue * rertain measure of consultation...

...This varied structure and multiplicity of unions makes for overlapping rivalries and satis times loss of effectiveness in collective bargaining...

...Thi Trade Union Congress decisions on this snd allied international matters will be the subject of a second article...

...The t'ongtess described this set as a "complete denial of the elated aunt md objects for which tat* tear is being fought by the United Nations...

...Increased opposition to cartel* result* from two farters: the general realization that a policy of expanaion ran alone assure full employment, and the disclosures in the United States of the nefarious snd unpatriotic activities of international cartels...

...Tripartite consultation haa taken place on all essential ¦afters relating to war product i, and thanka to Isbor's participation in the Coalition government, and to the fact that Ernest htvia, former General Sec¦•tery of the Transport ¦•d General Workers Ussen, ia Minister of Laser, harmonious relations been maintained...

...British Trades Union Congress Looks Ahead By Ernest Davies JfS^BLBGATES to tki* year's meeting of the British J! Trade* Union Congress (TUC), the largest m JLf its history, wars buuyired by a sense of response yiitr for formulating the ways and means in which the «wde Union Movement should cooperate in an aspenjtUMt policy to assure fall employment...

...Often the craftsmen have been the bulwark of conservatism when new methods were available for increasing the productivity of their industries...

...In Britain as in the USA a no-strike pledge wss given by the trade union movement to assure uninterrupted war production, but unofficial strikes in vital industries have eccasionslly tied up production and the Govern¦oat had no power to act against those instigating the ftriket agitators, in many instances, dissociated from the regular trade unions...

...The debate disclosed a healthy suspicion of any organisation with which prominent people were connected who have been associated with international cartel...

...But this year, in Sddition to the miners and cotton operatives, the builders declsred they were not opposed to new methods and even favored prefsbriration provided they were responsible for setting up prefabricated houses...

...Labor's criticism of the details of the Government's social security scheme, which is in the main accepted by the trade unions snd Lsbor Party, Is of the limitation of unemployment insurance payment* to SO consecutive weeks...

...To quote Mr...

...That they would have none of the latter, they evidenced by voting against the General Council's general but cautious approval of the World Trade Alliance onto which well-known industrialists associated with notorious csrtels had ensnared two leading trade unionists...

...This deficiency is now to be made ' good by the London School of Economics, which aided by the TUC, is to start a university course for trads union officials...

...Assured that very specific protection was given bona fide trade ¦sionists and their proper machinery, and that the new ¦ewers could only be used against irresponsible*, Congress approved the General Council's action...

...The TUC has now rejected limitation of benefits but endorsed at tendance at training centers...

...It recog*tethat if it favors continuance of industrial controls, kfxally it cannot oppose labor controls either, daring ** period of reconversion...

...It would seem that the Government has decided to ignore this matter s* vital to the trade union movement as long as no disagreeable action was taken by the workers...

...Affiliated unions were urged to develop schemes of amalgamation, federation and cooperation...

...The education of trade union officials, and the research into the industries with which they are concerned, has rarely been directly undertaken by the TUC or by the unions indlviduslly...

...It wa* fully alive to its responsibility of making those adjustments and, if necessary, relaxing its rigid rule*, to assure their success...

...All it can do is make recommendations which the affiliated bodies may or may not carry out...

...Control* have enabled Britain to mobilise completely ** anmpower and productive capacity for war purIjfss, and labor would have them continued...

...Last year when Churchill promised esaraltation on the issue, the application of the Post Office Workers Union to affiliate to the TUC, which would have brought about a showdown, was withdrawn...

...In the main, the Congress favors federalization within an Industry...

...George Chester stated, on behalf of the General Council, that "the trade union movement is prepared to make such alterations in its structure and pi act ices as the operation of public ownership and a policy of full employment show to be necessary...

...The resolution passed at Congress refused to absolve the German people from blame for Nasism, and when the Labor Party stands on this issue will be s matte* for debate at its annual conference in December...

...This willingness on the part of the trade union* to cooperate in making effective a policy of full employment, provided alwaya that the union* participate in formulation of policy, also cslls for the strengthening of trsde union structure...

...Similarly James Bowman, the vice-president of the Miners Federation, drew attention to the low degree of mechanization of the mining industry and the obsolete structure of the industry...

...In the domestic field the Trade Union Congreai and the Labor Party see eye to eye...

...The TUC is s loos* voluntary federation of the British trade union organization* in affiliating to which the trade unions surrender none of their sovereign rights...

...A ban on civil service unions affiliating to the TUC exists as the Government hat failed to amend the much hotri Trade Ditputei Act of 1927...

...ft blueprinted a planned economy with atate owner* thip of Ike basic industries of fuel, power and transport, and retention of state control over industry as a whole, and regulation of the life of the nation to thi extent that ha was necessary o enable a rising standard of living to be enjoyed...

...More than ^ before, the TUC waa concerned with large issues i djilrg the future welfare, not only of British trade tatomsts, hot of workers everywhere...

...Consultation has taken ifcts both centrally and *y regionally through Spt consultative commiti *"b5 and in industry itself production committees have functioned...

...But the TUC's increasing strength and unity makes It feel less dependent on thi political wing...

...The acceptance by the Government and industry alike of labor as a partner in the organization of war produc tion, and its entry into full consultation, has awakened the trade unions' sense of responsibility...

...thi one for political power for carrying it out and the othei for numerical and financial strength to obtain thai power...

...This caused Ellen Wilkinson, this year'i Labor Party chairman, to plead with the delegates not to regard the Labor Party as a "poor relation" and as a neglible quantity, and to argue that their program fot social and industrial reconstruction could not be carries' out by industrial action alone...

...If differences aria* it will be over internet ional affairs, and particularly the treatment of Germany after the war, an issue on whirl the movement is divided...

...A note rarely previously sounded at Trade Union Congresses was sounded this year...

...Miss Wilkinson urges' the trsde unions not to regard seats in the House of Commons as sinecures-bestowed in recognition of long service in the trade union cause but to open the way f el younger men to enter Parliament...

...m the large industrial unions, such as the Miners, aad from the great federations of industrial unions, sack as the Amalgamated Engineering Union, to the vast general union* such as the Transport and General Motors Union...

...Despite this, the delegates drew s line of demarcation between consultation and collaboration...

...Previously the trade unions hsve objected to attendance at training centers ss a condition of benefit, and thia may well have influenced the Government in limiting the duration of benefits...

...The TUC unhesitstingly voted for the forty-hour week and two weeks annual holiday with pay, as soon as possible after the war...

...for greater provision for health and welfare of industrial workers, snd for improvements in housing snd the sorisl services...

...In an entirely different direction this willingness to face . up to the responsibilities of cooperation was disclosed...

...But such routine resolutions were overshadowed this year by the larger issues discussed above...

...The British trade union movement consists of s coalition of organization* vsrying from the craft unions E_-^ RNEST DA VIES, noted British political eeenmeatator and aether will write regalarly en English political aad labor event...

...In this wsy the vsriou* crafts within an industry retain their identity but are affiliated in a federation which negotiates for it with the employers' association...

...Only two Immediate issues bearing on current war production ware raised, which is evidence of how saoothly the consultative machinery is working...

...ow completely the trade unions have accepted con"J^wjon with industry waa shown by George Chester, *» mover of the General Council's report calling for "•Public ownership of the fuel, power snd transport ••"¦toes, when he suggested that the proposals should ¦ tarried out in consultation with the industries conFaith that industrialists would consult themselves out of power is fsith indeed...

...are Identical and each is dependent upon the other...

...Chester again, "We are mi longer prepared to take it for granted that the policy of the industry in which we work it vol our affair, or accept without evulence that it i* in accordance uith our or the public interest...

...The Prune Minister, however, had found himself too tctepied with the war to consult the TUC as promised, sad the Congress now bases its hopes on the Labor Psrty which it asked to campaign at the next general dectiun for the removal from the statute books of this "vindicative, iniquitous snd unjust set...

...By restricting production, controlling patents and assigning quotas, cartels pursue s policy inconsistent with the declared aims of the full employment policy adopted by the British Government and endorsed with qualifications by the trade unions...

...bilities it has undertaken certain reform* are caller for...

...m * • The war has witnessed a revolutionary change in the status of the trade unions in Britain and in their relationship to the Govern, •aaf and industry...

...The TUC accordingly adopted a report on trade unioa structure and closer unity which, while admitting that a change in the basic trade union structure was impracticable, declared that in a changing world the trade union movement could not retain ita prewar conception if it were to be fully efficient...

...The Trade Union Congress and Labor Party program...