Evening star., 1941-03-16
Industry Slow
To Back Labor
Training Plan
Many Firms Ignore
Approaching Shortage
OF Skilled Workers
Special Dispatch to The Star.

labor training division of the De-
fense Commission, according to an
article in the current issue of Busi-
ness Week. Despite the fact that an
acute shortage of skilled labor is i'm
minent, industry has failed to realize
the need for the Government train
ing-in-industry program, it is stated
An example is cited of a group OF
employers in defense work on the
Pacific Coast who were offered help
by an official of the division in train
ing labor for shipbuilding. This Of
fetal pointed out that in eight
months there will be a serious short
age of skilled labor available for the
shipbuilding program, and that if a
program of training were set up i'm
mediately I'VE can keep unplugged
what may otherwise be a serious
bottleneck."
His audience, however, seemed
neither surprised nor interested, and
he was frankly told by one of them
we've got all the men we need now
If we need more labor we can hire
them away from the aircraft plants
where they're training good me-
chanics. We can pay more than
they do and we'll have no trouble in
getting the men to come and work
for u.s."
Plan Labor Pirating.
This official, the article states, has
come to the conclusion that % the
imminent labor shortages which
Washington can statiStically demon
strate are not yet realistic enough to
jolt old personnel habits; (2) many
businessmen are prepared to practice
labor pirating' when new hands are
needed-a policy which Defense
Commission aides privately charac-
terize as short-sighted because it
will cost more, dangerous because it
will relieve specific labor shortages
only by creating others, unpatriotic
because it will levy a toll on national
production.
This inertia among employers pre-
sages a competition for labor that
threatens to push wages up to dizzy
heights, creating another "silk-shirt
era" like the last war and lacking
up living costs. To overcome this,
the Labor Training Division has re-
sorted to pleas, pressure, dire proph-
ecies. Its primary appeal. however,
is simple, says the article. c. R
Dooley, who heads the division. SAYS.
in effect, to management: If you
have any question about your ability
to get an adequate labor supply
now or in the future-call us in.
Well send you man-not theorist
or bureaucrat but an experienced
personnel expert volunteering his
time from some position in private
industry-with whom you can talk
over your situation. He'll advise you
on what can be done, give his time
to help you do it. 1t won't cost you
anything and, If you accept, you
don't invite any compulsion or Gov
ernment supervision.
Allison Case Cited.
What the training within industry
program can do is atteSted by one
of the Labor Training Division s
prize exhibits-the Allison division
of General Motors. Flooded with
orders from the Army Air Corps for
its liquid-cooled plane motors, and
faced with the necessity of sudden
and tremendous personnel expan-
sion, the company used an upgrading
plan for training new workers at
its Indianapolis plant. Officials of
the plant affirm that this method
has enabled them to enlarge their
working force without difficulty from
1900 to 1900 within recent months,
despite the fact that nearly one
third of the new employees were
completely green. They assert that
some of these men, who had handled
nothing more complicated than a
wheelbarrow before going to work
at the plant, have been moved up,
rung by rung on the ladder of skills,
until they are now performing high
ly technical operations on the final
assembly line.
The article states that to expedite
the training program, the country
has been divided into % districts,
each to have a headquarters Office
under the supervision of a training
within-industry representative. Dis
trict representatives have already
been chosen for all but a few of
these production areas. They are
experts who have been approved by
labor and management representa-
tives and serve without pay. The
local labor training expert is pre-
pared Cd to help in the analysis of
training needs; co to aid in setting
up program in each defense plant
to meet these needs; 90 to estab-
lish a clearinghouse system which
will keep industrialists informed
about the experience of other plants
facing similar problems; "a to IA
miliarize plant management with
services of Government agencies in
the field of employment and train
ing.
Other Agencies Help.
Meshing into "on-the- Job" train
ing is a hydra headed body of
schooling focused on occupational
training for defense. Contributing
to it are such agencies as w. P. A.,
the G. c. c., and the National Youth
Administration. 1t is stated that in
the six months ending January /,
a total of $1,000 w. P. A-ers had
been enrolled in the vocational
schools. In the N. Y. A. defense
training projects, thousands of
youths between the ages of II and
"a are trained on special programs
established to give them skills useful
to defense industries. Many of the
approximately 100000 C. C. c. boys
are receiving basic instruction in
specialized non-combat skills under
the direction of the Army which
will fit them for jobs in industry
when their camp life is over.
But the chief Government agency
concerned with schooling for de-
tense jobs is the Of1ice of Educa-
tion under whose jurisdiction
come the vocational schools. The
o. of Els quota called for the COM
pletion of training of 700. 900 defense