The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-12-11
LABOR NEWS
FROM BRITAIN
. VITAL JOBS EXEMPT
. TECHNICIANS NEEDED

London.-Strenuous measures are
for the organization of British man
power to grapple with their biggest
problem-how to find men for the
fighting services and at the same time
provide industry with sufficient COM
petent labor for war production.
Important aspects of this problem
are under discussion between the Min
lister of Labor and the joint consulta-
tive committee representing the 7. u.
C. General Council and the British
Employers Confederation, of which
the Minister is chairman. The Min
lister is expected to explain, in par
ticular, proposals he has in mind for
altering the basis of the scheme for
the reservation Of key men in essen
tial trades.
This is very difficult question.
Reservation has hitherto been operat-
ed on an occupational basis That is
to say, key men have been kept out
Of the armed forces in accordance
with scheme which fixed a block
reservation within certain age limits,
irrespective of the particular job an
individual might be doing and even of
the industry in which he might be en-
gagged.
Block Reservation to Go
The scheme was designed to pre-
vent the reservoir of skilled labor be-
ing drained by recruitment for the
fighting forces or the civilian defense
services. Thus, to take an example,
carpenters and joiners were reserved
en- bloc at the prescribed age (origin-
ally 25 in this case); and there are
several scores Of categories of skilled
men in the engineering and metal
working trades to whom the same
principle of block reservation was ap
piled.
What the Minister now proposes is
a departure from the system Of block
reservation. A new system of indi-
vidual reservation is to be introduced.
Under this new scheme even a man Of
the highest and rarest skill will be re-
tanned in war industry solely by rea-
son of the specific job he is doing
and it must be a job of vital neces-
sity to the war effort.
This method of individual selection
will be applied, of course, to men of
military age. And equally it does not
mean that skilled men who are ode
reserved" on the ground that the
work they are doing in civilian trades
can be left to others, will simply be
swept in to army or the navy; one
very important purpose of the scheme
is to provide competent personnel for
the service trades.
Men Who Cannot Be Spared
All three services are crying out for
more skilled men for maintenance,
servicing and repair work. Industry
must yield up its reserves of skilled
labor to meet these needs. Men OF
military age who are retained in the
war trades will be literally only those
who cannot be spared, whose jobs
can't be done by anybody else.
Naturally, the trade unions are
somewhat perturbed about this dras-
tic change. But with the strong COM
mon sense that has marked their at
titude towards the Ministry's policy
throughout the war, the unions are
ready to make the best of it. They
are not making difficulties. They re-
alize. for one thing, that Ernest Bevln
is striving nightly to operate an en-
lightened and farseeing policy which
will conserve and protect labor under
conditions of intensive production
such as British industry must face IN
the third winter Of war.
Recently, Ernest Bevin told a gath
ering of nearly thousand production
engineers that the serious difficulties
arising out of irregular and prolonged
hours of work must be avoided this
winter. He declared his conviction
that the long hours worked, in the
most trying circumstances, in the last
two blackout years, had had bad
effect on total production.
Excessive Hours-Smaller Output
This view is confirmed by the high
authority of the chief inspector of fac
tories, in his recently published report
dealing with the experience of indus
try in 1910. The chief inspector has
no hesitation in saying that expert
ence in 1910 showed that one of the
most valuable lessons Of the war had
been forgotten or imperfectly under
stood.
That was the lesson that excessive
hours of work meant less production
and that proper breaks and rest days
were of great Importance from the
production standpoint. A special chap
ter in his report, written by the
deputy chief inspector, provides the
actual evidence.
Cases are cited of firms which
changed over from the 5l2-day week
to the 7-day week and instituted total
working hours in excess of 60. After
four weeks there were obvious signs
of tagging, and marked increases OF
absenteeism. TO counteract this II
one plant, work was stopped on every
fourth weekend, but this brought nc
Improvement in output, and finally the
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