The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-23
Walter WincheII
 On BrO0dw0y
4s.e. MssA asnassSA csSvnSA. IsaA Ds"V H'''O'

THINGS I NEVER KNEW
 About tIae National Service Act in
 Great BFitain)
 That British people who cherish their personal freedom just Es much as we do wasted no time in trusting their Government when the nation was in danger.
 That on May p, l940, with the Nazi Panzer divisions and the Luft- waffle swarming over France and s the Low Countries, the House of Commons passed, in less than three hours, the Emergency Powers (De- fense) Act, giving the Government complete control over persons and property, not just some persons Of some particular class of the com- munity, but all persons. rich and poor, employer and workman, man and woman, and all property"
 That on the same afternoon the Minister of Labor and National Ser vice was given the power to use all of labor by empowering him to direct any person in the United Kingdom to perform such services in the United Kingdom as might be specified.
 That since December, l943, many young men have been directed into coal mining who would otherwise have gone into the forces. They are known as "Bevin Boys. Boy, page John LewisD
 That no deferment is given be- cause of marriage or dependents.
 That occupational deferments have been granted since the begin ming of the war-such as ship builders, welders etc.
 That an early system Of option1 for women in the various services has been greatly limited. For gears, single women between 20 and 25 have been allocated to priority civilian jobs--with no choice.
 That the Military Service Hard ship Committee investigates eases in which men and women have ap- piled for deferments. If their yer dict is rot unanimous, the applicant may appeal to an umpire whose de- cision is final. DeiermentS can be granted for only six months and then must be opened again.
 That an essential work order tO stop labor turnover has been sue cessfully applied to freeze essential workers in their jobs This order cust the right of the employer to fire and the employees frcdcom to quit.
 Tkat 1t is an offense under the National Service Act for worker 10 be absent from work without good reason. Before action is taken, however, against chronic absentee, the case must be submitted to q management and trade union rep resentative. Absenteeism actually can be punished in the courts, but the social ostraciSm of his fellow workers usually is & sufficient de- teTent.
 That under the National Service Act every worker who is frozen re- 4 ceives a guarante wage equal to the normal wage whether the work Il E available or not. In return he E required to do any reasonable JoE to which he is assigned and any reasonable overtime.
 T1at collective bargaining hat beas deg .oned and extended since
 . beginning of the war. That wartime standardization oi \ eraRS BUd conditions of employ ment have been so successful thai Labor Minister Ernest Bevin hal recently introduced a bill into tho House of Commons to set up a na' tional wage structure during five-year period after the war.
 That in 1040 Tribunal was Se up for the compulsory arDitatior of all disputes that could not bt settled by the usual methods O. collective bargaining. A dispute i reported to the Minister of Labor who tries to get 1t settled within the normal machinery of the in dustry or refers 1t. within 2I days to the Tribunal A strike is lega ollly if the dispute is not Settie' by the Minister of Labor or reported tot he Tribunal within the 21 days Naturally, this situation is not per mitted to arise.
 That since the start of the wal the loss of time due to lndustrla stoppage has averaged not nor than one hour per person per year lover -optisims about he war, com bined with frayed nerves, resulte in an increase in strikes during l94 to double what they were in tn previous year0
 That in addition to the hours pu in industry, both men and WomeI are required to participate in Civ Defense, nre-watching, Home Guar (before 1t was demobilized), et Women with children under IA an other women with home ties ma ! be exempted from Civil Defense du ties.
 That the scale of mobilization ( manpower achieved has been fa { greater than was attained in tn 2 last war. The number of men an ! women in the services or mdustrii 1olos reached it's highest level nes < thine end of 1043. by which tin labor was fully mobiltzed. That by the middle of 1914, q
 million men were serving in u
 Armed Forces of the United Knt
 lom compared with less than ha < < q million at the beginning Of U