The daily worker., 1931-03-23

Ihe various state governments in
stituted direct taxation on wages and
salaries Of $40 a week and over. The
tax varies in various states but aver
ages about 5 per cent over the con-
tinent. AS It is deducted from the
pay envelopes Of the workers, this
tax is equivalent to a wage cut. 1t
was followed by a wage cut, aver
aging about another 5 per cent, ow-
ing to the usual quarterly adjust
ment in wages on the rise and fall
Of the cost of living figures.
Hardly had the workers got over
the shock when the federal arbitra-
ton court decreed a further 10 per
cent cut in all wages, on the ground
that IAN emergency had arisen
which called for immediate readjust-
ments in all directions" The court
ruled that in order "to restore the
economic equilibrium" it would be
necessary to readjust wages, the costs
of government, rents, dividends, in
terest and other returns on capital.
But only the workers have been hit.
The bondholders, landlords, and
other interest - and unearned - in
come-takers have not been touched
by the labor government.
In those states where the hours of
work were reduced by law from 4s
to a per week, a wage-cut of 81
per cent equal to hours work, was
made. On top Of all this there is
operating a widespread system of
"rationing" of labor, the workers los
ing sometimes as much as one week
in every four.
The various wage cuts, rationing,
tax on wages, and so on, have re-
suited in a slump in earnings of
from 80 to 35 per cent. AS a result
the workers and their families are
now in a desperate condition. The
unemployment position is not i'm
proving-rather, the greater curtail-
ment Of purchasing power has re-
suited in greater unemployment.
Tens Of thousands of men, women,
and children are actually starving.
About a fifth of the population are
in want. Such misery, poverty and
hardship were never known before.
Already there have been numerous
outbreaks and demonstrations, and
food riots are expected any time.
Medical men assert that the lack
Of proper food, due to the enforced
reduction in the living standards, has
brought about an alarming increase
in sickness and a marked deteriora-
ton in the physical strength of the
people. The effects of malnutrition
are especially noticeable amongst
children in workingclass homes.
The union takers were forced to
call meeting Of the executive of
the Australian Council of Trade Un-
ions, met in Sidney and, issued a call
for an All-Australian Trade Union
Congress to consider the question of
ordering a general strike to force the
government to do something for the
starving and penalized workers.
In the manifesto issued by the A.
CT.U., executive, it was stated that
"the time has arrived when the
whole of the industrial forces of the
workers must be unified for the pur-
pose of definitely resisting with all
the means at their disposal, the de-
termined efforts of the big finan-
cial directors to take advantage of
the crisis to degrade the standards
of living Of the people"
The executive of the Australian
Council of Trade Unions is part and
parcel of the Labor government and
will not carry out any action against
it, The meeting and manifesto are
solely for the purpose of fooling the
workers and to keep them from real
action for unemployment relief and
against wage cuts.