Evening star., 1950-04-23

ruary, 1947, and repeated in 1948
Both were forbidden by Gen. Mac.
Arthur on the wholly logical
grounds that the country was un-
der military occupation and being
supported by the United States
hence could not be permitted any
action which would jeopardize the
objectives of the occupation. Re-
cent action forbidding coal
strike followed the same reason
ing.
While labor unrest in Japan
since the war derives from poverty
and the growing pains of organi-
zation, neither of which is capable
of solution by negotiation with
management, nevertheless the at
titude of management must be of
compelling Importance.
MANAGEMENT Confused
So far, management's attitude
has been one mostly of confusion
Buffeted by all kinds of business
reforms accompanied by loss of
assets during the war and the
stagnation of business since, man
agement has looked YEARLY on
organized labor as one more
phenomenon of a business en-
vironment which is for the most
part unpleasant.
Management consequently has
lodged both the responsibility to
itself learn how to deal with Or
ganized labor and the necessity
for doing it's part in educating
labor in the responsibility which
goes with its new power. For the
first three years or more of the
occupation the maze of govern
ment subsidies, loans and price
and wage controls took away pre-
negatives of both management and
labor in collective bargaining
Nearly every issue of consequence
dragged on to a crisis, then was
forced upon government for de-
cision, thus postponing the &C
ceptance of responsibility by both
labor and management.
AS very poor country barren
OF nearly all resources except her
working population, the matter of
cost in production is all important.
Since Japanese industry was built
on trade goods and must survive
through exports, cost must be
competitive.
Labor Costs Were Low
From the point of view of cost
OF production, labor is almost GER
tain to be an increasingly i'm
portant element of industry. Not
only union action but the entire
new awareneSs Of the individual
in Japan is leading to continued
demand for a larger share in the
fruits of production. It is GER
tain, however, that labor has
emerged from feudalism and will
never again be content to re-
main the ward of Mitsui, Mitsubi-
shi ct al.
This emergence from feudalism
is probably the deciding factor in
labor's new cost position in JAP
anese industry. AS minute re-
mlnder OF the large corporation
labor costs prior to the war repre-
sented more the expense of keep
ing the worker housed and fed
than an adjustment between the
demands of labor and the willing
ness and ability of management to
pay. In the prewar textile in
dustry, Japan's largest, the dor
mitory system of housing and
feeding at the plant reduced la
Dor costs to probably the lowest in
the world for the efficiency of the
work obtained. In 1888 hourly
wages in textile mills amounted to
9 sen, or about 212 cents, and the
average for all industrial workers
Is sen, or something over 4 cents
Just as that wage scale was un-
approachable by western industry
so also is it impossible in the
Japan of today. To the higher
wages must be added the cost OF
protective measures such as So
cial security. public relief. ter.
minal pay and so on as substitutes
to the security of feuda1ism. The
inevitable result is higher cost
of the individual worker to in
duStry.
japanese industry is in no po.
Sition to counter the increased
cost of labor through techno.
logical and organizational i'm.
provement. Not only is the aver.
age japanese factory old and OBJ.
solete, but the factory system i.
built upon and geared to chear
labor only partially utilized. The
japanese social philosophy ha.
long been committed to over.
stating as a means of spreading
employment.
Coal Production Down
The postwar productivity ol
Japanese industry reflects the fact
that organization and technology
have failed to keep up with costs
In the textile industry, one which
has been kept reasonably vel
supplied with raw materials, the
average worker produces not much
more than half as much az
before the war at a greater cost
The same is true of coal mining
where japanese output averages
between 10 and Is tons per under
ground worker per month, as COM
pared to better than 20 tons 9
month prewar-and as compared
to the five-tons-per-day average
of the American miner. Other in
dustries in Japan which operate
at fraction of capacity show ar
even greater drop in output pei
worker.
Since the position of organized
labor in an industrial country Il
strong, the resolution of labor's
demands against the ability to pay
is likely to become the primary