The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1910-04-14
SHARE IN PROFITS
Each Workman in shipyard Al.
lowed to Take $50 in Stock.
Employees Agree Not to Strike, But
Let Council Decide All Disputes
Sir Christopher Furness
Praises Unions.

Let Council Decide All Disputes
Sir Christopher Furness
Praises Unions.
LQndon.-Sir Christopher Furness,
NJ. p. spoke eloqpently recently Of the
success Of his experiment, started last
March, of a shipyard at West Hartle-
pool on c~o-partnership lines. He ad-
dressed a mass meeting of his en-
ploye-co-partners in 1rvine's Shipbuild-
ing and Dry Docks Company, Ltd. Of
which he is chairman.
Under the scheme each man took
ten fve-dollar shares in the company
(patd for out of wages), bearing four
per cent. interest, with the addition
of a bonus If the profits exceeded five
per cent. The men agreed not to
strike, but to settle disputes through
a works council, on which the man
agement and the employees were rep
resented. The men were recently
given a five per cent. bonus in addi-
ton to the four per cent. on their in
vestment.
Sir Christopher, in reviewing the
history Of the experiment, quoted
from the Working Mans Friend of
over fifty years ago. "The liberty,
happiness and glory of England and
the world will be contaminated as
soon as good feeling shall be estab-
lished between masters and those
whom they employ"
The momentous fact was that the
works council speedily got down to
the true basis Of the co-partnery-the
basis of genuine comradeship-and
realized that the more they could set
tie their little differences among
themselves the better it would be for
everybody.
He paid a tribute to the local trade
union leaders who counseled the men
to give the idea a trial. "The en-
ploye partners" he added, "have
responded in a manner that could
scarcely have been excelled, and they
have upheld worthily, at a time when
there were people who began to doubt
whether they were not disappearing,
the regulations which u various
British qualities won for our country
half a century or more ago."
Sir Christopher quoted from one of
his early speeches on the scheme: II
fly to amity. as I hope that you will
fly to amity, as a haven of refuge
after a prolonged and worrying and
sickening course of friction"
As a result Of the friendliness be-
tween the management and the men
there had been no friction justifying
any serious mention. What was more
important, the increasing closeness Of
the association had brought about a
greater appreciation of the respective
viewpoints and a more determined de-
sire to meet each others wishes.
The chairman of the works council,
Mr.. Purdon, now declared unhesita-
tingly: Confidence reigns supreme
among the members" Recalling the
almost daily incidents of antagonism,
strife and delay, the circumstances
somber and squalid, with which they
had an acquaintance so close and
grim for several years. up to u
months ago, surely few principles had
enjoyed a justification so great in a
time so short.
In a memorandum Mr.. Purdon had
said that a works council, such as
they had, with the machinery that
enabled the representative artisans
and laborers to meet from time to
time On terms of equality with the
managers and foremen, was the true
solution of a problem which has for
years been among the most urgent,
because among the most damaging,
which have confronted captains Of
British industry.
Under the new regime the virtues
of punctuality, assiduity, economy,
and ingenuity had been exercised with
a little more spirit and persistence
than had been customary in late
years. There had been fewer idle
days, fewer lost quarter days." and
closer attention had been given to de-
tails.
Sir Christopher said that on almost
the last evening he spent with his
friend, the late Sir Alfred Jones, the
latter remarked that the first notable
thing he did as a young man was to
deposit $50 in a building society.
That money he had never withdrawn.
The $50 which each man had invested
in the co-partnery would, with com
pound interest at nine per cent, reach
the total Of $3,715.87 in so years.
II am not pretending" said Sir
Christopher, that all Of you are going
to be in work at Middleton or the
harbor shipyard, for, shall I say. an
other half century, but I do plead
earnestly that we must never despair
of small beginnings, since they have
frequently endings great and glori-
GUS"
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