The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-03-11

Mr.. VIM. BreretOn, a member of the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers writes
to the London Times on this subject as fol-
lows
81 have read with avidity all the differ
ent opinions az expressed by the various
writer's to the public press upon the above
vexed question, and | fully indUrse the
sentiments in the leading and closing para
graphs Of Mr.. T. W. Fox's letter-frsa.
that q large amount Of Misunderstanding
still seems to exist second. that trade so
cleties have just cause Of complaint in the
way the details Of the system Of piece ewOrk
are carried out. | shall admit that the sys-
tenn Of piecewOrk in the theory il correct
i e., that one man having superior abil-
tits to another should receive superior re-
muneration but do we find that the prac-
tical application Of the theory produces
that result, and If not, where is the fault
and what Is the remedy My object in
asking your insertion Of this letter will be
an endeavor to answer those two questions.
II 10 said that trade societies as a body OBJ
Ject to the system Of piecework upon prin-
clPle. l must dernur to the way the ques-
tlon Is put, and say that trade societies, az
a body, object to work by the piece en- ac-
count Of the abuse that appears to be an
integral part Of the system, and over which
at present they have no control. The first
principle involved under the piecewurk sys-
tenn 10 what can be paid for every article
manufactured, ~ that the medium work
man can obtain the ordinary necessaries Of
Of life. and make some little provision for
a rainy dAyl Under the present working
Of the system, how Is that price arrived at
la large aIorIty Of shops To my mind
IN meet arbitrary manner A drawing
Is brought from ,he office By the mar ager
or foreman, and you are told that the work
Is To be done by the piece, and that the
price IL 20 and 50. You object as to price
In the end positively declining to under
take the work. and, having no higher ap-
peal, YOU are perhaps discharged. This is
repeated until some one, either from fear
Of the consequences of refusing or m;scaI-
culAtIon, undertakes the task. He soon
hnds out his mistake, makes a complaint,
and is told he had his eyes open and must
abide by the consequ, aces Pay -day
comes, and having worked sufficiently well
to satisfy the foreman more work could
not possibly have been done, his money IL
admoniticn that he must Try and do better
next week, or he will soon be IN debt.
The foregoing m the result even where you
get fair price at starting, the object
apparently being 10 reduce the price until
you find yourself working under a system
Of task work as obnoxious as it is degrad-
ing, both physically and intellectually.
When the intelligent and superior work
man receives such treatment through the
abuse u a system, what becomes OF his
less fortunate shopmate | must leave YOU
to guess and can Il be wondered at that
large numbers Of workmen ignore the sub
ject altogether as If by instinct The
question nov comes. who can be RESPONSE
bic for the larger share Of the abuse az 5lis
system Most .Issuredly the employers,
in taking upon themselves the absolute
power Of fixing the price Of work, and re-
ducing that price whenever a highly skilled
efhci mt workman earns more than a pre-
scribe1 amount. and denying the inferior
workmen any appeal against the same.
What Is the remedy That in all shops
where pieccwork can be done the price
shall be fixed by a committee representing
the interests of the employers and men
elected from the employees Of the firm
that all work must be considered and
priced by that body, from which there can
be no departure except by mutual consent.
The committee should also act a. arbitra-
tors i'll all cases of dispute, and am san
guine enough to believe that with such
concessions as are necessary on the part Of
employers and men as would embOdY the
above outline into some definite form Of
agreement virtually an end would be put
to strikes and lockouts
The tinplate workers Of Birmingham
from time immemOrial been paid by the
piece" Previous to the year 1853 there
existed standard list Of prices which was
not printed, and which had become sub
ject to discount Of 10, aud in some in
stances 20 per cent. In October, 1853, a
revised list was agreed upon between em-
ployers and workmen, and was printed
This list was subject to 10 per cent. dis
count, and established an average rise Of
10 per cent. In 1865 net list OF prices
SAs mutually AgTeet upon. In February,
1873, 10 per cent. advance upon this
printed list was asked for and obtained
without strike by the workmen, and this
advance extended also to Molverhampton,
the original seat Of this trade, and w ere,
curiously enough, no printed or uniformly
acknowledged list Of prices exists or has
existed for some years. In 1868 the Lon
don employers and workmen mutually
agreed upon q list of prices, which was
also printed, and which we believe estab-
lished considerable advance Of piecework
prices on many articles