Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-09
GERMANY STRIKE
IS NOW GENERAL
ShipbuiIderS in 1907 Reduced the
Hours of Labor from Sixty
to Fifty-Six
WANT PIECE WORK SCALE
Employers Declare Demands of
the Men Are Impossible
to Grant
WANT PIECE WORK SCALE

BERLIN, oct. 7--Whatever may
be the outcome of the great conflict
which has suddenly broken out in the
German shipbuilding trade, there are
several reasons for regarding it as of
more than temporary and local Inn
portanCe 1t Is not only the first gem
eral strike or lockout in the trade,
but il is probably the first dispute on
such a scale in which the offensive
and defensive organizations of employ
ers no less than of employed are so
perfectly prepared both to fight and to
extend the sphere of operations. The
determination shown on both sides and
the mixture of political with economic
considerations are, moreover, charac-
teristc of the whole internal situation
in Germany.
In the year 1906 a union of builders of
seagoing ships was founded-though
apparently in' some respects an entire
ly independent organization-aS q
''group" of the great league of employ
ers in the whole metal industry, the
Gesamtverband Deutscher Metallln-
dustrieller This Grippe Deutscher
Seeschiffswerften has its headquarters
at Hamburg. and it's president and
guiding spirit is Herr Bfohm of the
firm of Blohm e. Voss. 1t includes
all the private shipbuilding yards in
Germany. The Danzig and Elping
yards, however, required a speclal
clause, the effect of which is to exempt
them from the obligation to Join in
lockout They are consequently not
concerned in the present struggle. Fer-
haps, as was said by representatives Of
both employers and of the employed.
living conditions in West Prussia are
essentially different; perhaps, as one
employer remarked, "They know at
Danzier that when men come west you
can't get them back"
In 1907 the employers union reduced
of it's own accord, the hours of WORK
a week in the Hamburg yards from oo
to 50 and in the other yards from oo 10
~. These reductions came into Ell
foct in the autumn of 1907-except, 1t
seems. in the case of the HAMBURG
American line, in whose repairing yards
40 hours are still worked. AS regards
wages, the facts are difficult to es-
tablish. The base of calculations Is
an hourly wage, but tlme WoIk Is cont- on
bined with piecework, and the results
are naturally complicated, If not, as
the mems leaders maintain, almost IN
calcrlarble. Apart from minor detalls
and questions of overtime ana so on
the demands of the men when Iorlh
the occasion of the present uispule a.
An all-round reduction of hours 10
total of SO (eight hours on saturdays
and nine hours on other week daysl.
The same wage for SO hours as is
received for the longer hours at present
worked, with an addition OF 1O per
cent. ...,,1,,,o. tho
Ypethod of payment by the piece, WIN
a guarantee that the payment for the
,,iece shall in every case be not less
fhan one-third of the time wage. -
There is. of course, much contro-
versy about the meaning anu se, eilec'
oe these demands. The employers
3nion has published an arithmetlcal
demonstration that the men are ask
inc for an increase of wages py oo PEI
cent and more, and at the same Illll0
demanding a guarantee which WIZ an
nul the incentive ITO work wen Wt,cl,
a nierework arrangement Is lntenuea
e. sunnlv. The arithmetic, however,
starts from the assumption that tne
basis of calculation described IN tne
Inen's written demands as tine weekly
wages hitherto attained" Is the who're
wage. The mems organs reply-a.nu anu
tbis is confirmed by conversation
itb their representatives-that the
basis of calculation is, of course, lne
time wage without any additions. An
;ndenendent and expert authority VINO
accents this Interpretation states thaI
the increase would work out In typlcal
cases at Hamburg to about 10 per cen''
"A carpenter, for instance, VINO now re-
ceiye GO pfennigs an hour Ior lity
hours a week would in the future re-
oeive $50 pfennigs an hour Tor n1ty-
shrao hours a week This seems
large enough demand, but 1t VIII; OF
course. be observed that the employ
ers reckon as increase OF WasS9 ~
,,avment of the same wages as at pres
Int fo1. a smaller number of hours than
az nresent. while the employed look at
the question simply from the point OF
view that the present hours are 100
long. .,,,,,. ,,;eca-
work the employers describe a guar
antee of any sort as nonsensical ana
;mnossible to grant. The labor organ
;1ations on the other hand, put TINS
question of piecework In the fore-
5round when they are asked what ID
fhe real ground of the strike move
,nent They declare that payment by
+i,o niece is under present conditions
Cuite arbitrary; that not only do tne
80, not know what they are going TO
get hut often get different amounts IN
particular but exactly similar cases.
and that a guaranteed relation between
niece nayment and time payment is
tho onlv possible protection against
the foremans caprice. Without eX-
pressing any opinion on questions so
diNicu1t to control. in which inter
ference would justly be resented, IL
NAV perhaps be suggested that the
Justice of the demand depends TO some
extent upon tne amount VI pay 'lel tiy y
the piece which is to be guaranteed
THE men. as already stated, ask for
one-third of the amount of the time
wage as minimum. Now the employ
ers give the following as typicap ex-
annie of the working of the present
system: A workman receives ~ cents
an hour as time wage, but completes
i'm ten hours a piece valued at $l.75:
He receives 81 20 for the ten hours, and
in addition so cents as the difference
between the time wage and the piece
value. If this case is really typical,
the additional payment by piece is two
fifths of the payment by time-a good
deal more than the one-third for
which a guarantee is demanded.