New Britain herald., 1923-07-30
GOLDEN RULE WORKS
 WELL IN ENGLAND.
Dennison Says It Preserves Har-
 moly in Steel Works
By Milton Bronner NEA serytce Writer

London, July 3o.--"The biggest thing in industry is confidence be- tween capital and labor.
 Tt can't be secured simply by de- manding it or making speeches about 1t. It is something that is attained only by long and close association and frank recognition that each side has rights and that rights also carry with them grave sense of responsibility.
 Tn the steel industry of Great Britain we have attained that confi- dence betwen employers and em- ployes, It is thing of old esta blish- ment and it had made for peace and prosperity in the industry"
 The man who said this was R. Dennison, assistant secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation the one big union in the industry In Britain. Dennison was recent candidate for parliament on the labor ticket.
 "The trouble in many places" he said, lis that people have the idea labor organizes for aggressive pur- poses alone and that capital, there- fore, has to combine for the purpose of resisting labor. In itself, such an idea is enough to create an atmos- phere in which 1t is hard to &C., complish peaceful agreement.
 No Aggressiveness Shown
 Tn our British steel industry there has been no such atmosphere. We have met openly and above board, each recognizing the others right to organize and each willing to meet with and deal with the other. To bring about this happy state of affairs there have been several guiding principles:
 Employers in the steel and iron in- dustry have fully recognized the right of the workmen's accredited repre- sentatives to intervene on questions affecting wages, hours and conditions of employment.
 Establishment of conference and arbitration machinery for the settle ment of all vexed questions that can't be disposed of by the individual em- ployer and his men.
 Acceptance of the principle of piece-work payment by the workmen and the absence of rate cutting on the part of the employer.
 Provision of sliding scales whereby advances and reduction on base wages automatically apply in accordance with the selling price of the manu- factured material
 Books Always Open.
 "The advantages accruing to the employers and to the men under the sliding scale method of regulating wages in accordance with the state of trade are numerous.
 There is a saving of time in the negotiations between both sides There Is for the work people the assurance that they share automatically in the of the industry. There is for the employers confidence in the working of their mills which enables them to contract ahead. |
 T think one point about our slid Ing scale will be of special interest 70 Americans. The general principle governing it's operation is that there can be established base wage-piece or time-upon which an agreed per- ,entage is added for every ascertained | average increase in price the manu- 'acturer gets over given period, such altered percentage applying for } corresponding period.
 "The method of ascertaining the price of the manufactured material, | Ipon which the fuctuation of wages depends, is obtained by an audit of , Tn agreed number of firms books of 'ale, the workmen and the employers appointing joint auditors who are in- highly reputable firms of chartered accountants.
 T am not familiar with American but I imagine this thing If firms throwing open their books o examination by the men is some hing new. It isn't new over here and r t isn't considered revolutionary, be- 'ause there is mutual trust between he steel manufacturers and the steel vorkers."