6 Labor Given Greater Voice In Production HE central characteristic of Britain’s new production setup is the opportunity it gives to factory workers for the first time to exert a real influence on development of national economic planning. LONDON. Adoption by=the government last July of the Citrine Committee’s re- commendations has resulted in the decentralization of production control and organic linking of joint labor-management committees in the factories to the government’s district produc- tion boards. This development, opening up possibilities for unprecedented participation by the workers in the war effort, has in turn strengthened the control of the ministry of production over the nation’s war industries. Backed by the workers, Production Min- ister Oliver Lyttleton now has the opportunity to smash the grip of the monopolies on the govern- men’s network of war industry controls. The ministry of production, set up in “March 1942, has full powers over allocation of raw materials, machine tools, industrial capacity and manpower. Formerly these powers were vested in the min- istry of supply, the admiralty, ministry of aircraft production and four other agencies. While today these minfstries still attend to administrative de- tails, final authority over them— except in the case of the admir- alty—is in the hands of Oliver Lyttleton. As one of the eight members of the war cabinet, and as a member of its policy-making defense committee, Lyttleton works with those who decide the nation’s over-all strategy of war. His task is to allocate production and manpower resources to meet basic strategy needs. According to Lyttleton, the “most important part” of the pro- duction ministry is its joint war production staff. This consists of the assistant chiefs of staff of the army, navy and air force, the top Officers of the ministers of supply, aircraft production and admiralty, and, as chairman, Sir Walter Layton, chief advisor on pro- grams and planning. The JWPS, which works with the other top planning groups of the United Wations, was described by Lyttle ton as. the “servant” of the war eabinet’s defense committee. Attached to the ministry is the national production advisory council, on which labor is directly represented. The council consists of the vice-chairmen of the eleven regional production boards (half of them trade unionists), six rep- resentatives of the British Em- ployers’ Confederation and the Federation of British Industries, and six representatives of the Trade Union Congress. e ° e ISTORY of earlier government attempts to centralize pro- duction shows that it takes more than formal legislation to break the restrictive, uncoordinated control of the monopolies over the nation’s war industry. Under the Citrine plan, however, the coun- try’s eleven regional production boards have been transformed from ineffective advisory bodies into government agencies with real executive power. To each board has been added a regional controller directly representing the ministry of production. The controller acts as perman- ent chairman, members of his board being three employers’ rep- resentatives, three trade union- ists, and regional representatives of the admiralty, ministries of supply, aircraft production, labor and other government depart- ments. The regional controller has authority to enter and inspect any plant. Each regional board has an executive committee, on which labor has at least one rep- resentative. The committee meets once a week, the regional board monthly. Bach region is sub-divided into districts, usually four to a region. The district officer is a repre- sentative of the ministry of pro- duction, and is assisted by a dis- trict production committee con- Sisting of an equal number of rep- resentatives of labor and man- agenient, The district committees, which meet weekly, have been set the following main tasks: to keep a strict record of production in all plants in the area; to supervise allocation of tools, materials and manpower; and—as their main duty—“to deal with general gques- tions affecting production that are brought to their notice by factory joint production committees or by trade unions or employers’ or- ganizations.” NDER this arrangement, work- ers are now bringing before the district committees — and, through the committees, the regional boards and the ministry itself—such questions as failure of plants fully to utilize all ma- chines, men and materials; lack of day nurseries; inadequate transportation and incompetent managers. In October, Production Australian . Minister Lyttleton announced that, because of suggestions made by labor-management commit- tees, certain contracts have been shifted from inefficient to effici- ent firms. The saving of labor and machines thus achieved, he said, would make possible wider use of the all-important three— shift system. With labor-management com- mittees now general throughout British war industry, this new organic relationship between the workers and government is certain ,in the view of labor lead- ers, to result in greatly increased production. “Our workers now have the chance to use their say in the management of industry to over- come the muddle, confusion, over- lapping and red tape,” Jack Tan- ner, president of the Amalgamat- ed Engineering Union, stated at the EAU convention in August. (This is the second in a series of Allied Labor News articles on economic mobilization in Britain. Next week: Britain’s far-reaching Essential Work Order). Light Thrown On Yugoslav Struggle O™ of the confusion that has attended the struggle ag | the occupation forces in Yugoslavia the press is beginning to obtain a clear and accurate picture of wh happening in the strife-torn Balkan country. This pich— based on the indisputable evidence of facts repeatedly str, by the Yugoslav patriots themselves, that the People’s — eration and Guerrilla Army is the only major armed ~ in the country fighting against the occupation forces and that Daja Mihailovih, who has been built up as the supposed leader of the guerrilla forces, has actu- ally appropriated the laurels of the true patriots while maintain- ing relations with the quisling “Nedic and the occupation forces. The London Byvening Standard here, claiming to have received its information from an wunim- peachable source, reports that the guerrillas have recently won major victories in a large-scale, strategically well-planned opera- tion pointing to a single command and firm discipline and unity among the different national guerrilla groups. The Standard states that in Oc- tober a detachment of Bosanska Kraina guerrillas began a north- erly advance via the valleys of the Dinar Alps towards Zagreb. Sim- ultaneously, a second detachment of Lika guerrillas moved from the Velebit Mountains to Dal- matia and a third detachment consisting of Croatian regulars moved from the northeast. Longshoremen Cut Loading Time Two- Thirds By PAUL MOLINE Allied Labor News Writer SYDNEY. (Ces between longshoremen and shipowners on the Stevedoring Industry Com- mission has cut unloading time to two-thirds of the average a year ago, when far less cargo was handled in Australian ports, Jim Healy, Federation, told Allied Labor News last week. Denying reports in the U.S. press about Australian longshore difficulties, Healy said, “Australi- an ports are no longer bottle- necks. Ships arriving in port are worked immediately, and the work is continued day and night till it’s completed. The improved turnaround in the last year is mainly due to a better organiza- tion of labor. Australian workers have put their backs to the wheel.” When the Commission was es- tablished in April, Australian ports were congested with hun- dreds of ships diverted from the Netherlands East Indies, and hun- dreds more were arriving weekly with American troops and sup- plies to make Australia the prin- cipal allied military base in the South Pacific. Handling this in- creased traffic, Healy pointed out, was difficult because of*® the low degree of mechanization on Australian wharves. “Before the war owners pre- ferred to rely on ships’ gear for loading and discharging,’ he said. “This made trouble when we had to deal with new cargoes such as planes and tanks, many of them brought in on the decks of transports. More lifting equip- ment is now available, and when the ports are properly mechanized we'll be able to cut turnaround still further.” The’. Stevedoring Commission was the result of an investigation of the longshore situation by a committee headed by Sir Owen Dixon, now minister to Washing- ton. It consists of three representa- tives of the Waterside Workers Federation, one of Australian shipowners, one of overseas ship- owners (British and American), and one of the stevedoring com- panies. Its chairman is H. B. Piper, chief justice of the Com- monwealth Arbitration Court, which sets all Australian wages, who stated last week: “Watersiders have work long hours, sometimes as many as 24, so cargoes can be handled quickly for the services. There is now complete harmony on the waterfront.” e e e ORT committees organized by the commission, with equal representation from labor and management, are now functioning in 26 Australian ports. The pre- war system of hiring on the auc- tion-block system, similar to the shape-up prevalent on the east coast of the U.S., has been aband- agreed to oned and controlled - labor schemes, with central hiring halls, are now in force in all ports except Sydney. The rotary gang system, which has been operating in Melbourne since May, is duplicated with minor variations in other ports. There are 17 watersiders to a gang, and the earnings of the gangs are equalized as far as possible. Wage and working con- dition awards by the arbitration court are maintained except when modified by the commission in the interests of speeding up op- erations. All hiring is done through the Commission’s central pick-up (hiring hall). Workers are not al- secretary of the Waterfront Workers lowed to leave waterside work or transfer to another port without authority from the port superin- tendent in charge of pick-up, and all registered watersiders must attend pick-up every day until they are hired. Men who refuse work or are absent without cause are denied employment by the Commission; firms which refuse to accept allotted workers or which hire labor except through the central pick-up are prohibit- ed from handling cargo. Union representatives on the commission are now pressing for a scheme for ‘“decasualising” longshore labor along the lines adoptéd two years ago in Bri- tain. Under this scheme, water siders would be guaranteed a weekly wage of six pounds twelve shillings ($33) regardless of whether or not work is available. SEASON'S i iy PALA AA AAALAC ALAIAL LALA AAR. Alo side estas acstaly asin lads i fe) ieee Od ? At the time the British Army was piercing Ror. ‘ line, all three groups of Yay | guerrillas merged under a | command, and under the na | the People’s Liberation =— formed the first solid fral 0 guerrilla struggle against ti) E cupation forces. A Beginning an adyance ; ward, they recaptured yy after village from the Ger iz Before the Germans had & BS recover, the new guerrilla # had captured dozens of town: fi fifty villages, advanced 50 |, into the Zagreb basin and ated an area twice the size o territory seized back from tk cupation forces during the year. Explaining Mihailovic’s rol. Evening Standard writes th the fall of 1941, various gj wanting to continue the str against the occupation ff gathered under his command In November last year, Ge motorized columns routed t “army,” leaving only scat remnants of it. Those amonj remnants determined to against the Nazis until the i try was liberated responded £ call of the Croat guerrillas” made their way to Monteneg . small units where, together the Croats, they formed the © anska Kraina guerrilla grout According to the paper, Bosanska Kraina guerrillas, biggest and most successful ¢- uniting several guerrilla de ments, are under the commar Kosta Nadja, 30-year-old pez who headed the Croat Mati Gi Battalion in -the Spanish I national Brigade. HOLIDAY DAN at the EMBASSY 1024 Davie Aa rye geet Re Season’s Greetings from the REGENT HOT SEASON’S GREETIN and Best Wishes for 1943 Nordic News Stan GREETINGS! from United Fishermen’s Unio!