12

How British Labor

Controls Function

—LONDON.

N BRITAIN, where the last reserves of manpower have now
been tapped, special importance attaches to the problem
of movement of labor from one industry to another. An ex-
panding war plant cannot get new workers merely by calling
in persons hitherto not engaged in industry; the workers must

be transferred from some other
plant or industry. This vital task
of transferring labor is carried
out, not by the employers, but by
the government.

Three legislative acts give Min-
ister of Labor and National Sery-
ice Ernest Bevin full control over
the movement of labor:

i. The Emergency Powers Act
of May 22, 1940, which empowers
the government “to require all per-
sons to place themselves, their
services and their property at the
disposal of the crown,’ and gives
Bevin authority, not only to draft
for service in industry all able-
bodied persons not yet in the
armed forces, but also to shift
workers from one industry to an-
other.

2. The Restriction-on-Engage-
ment Order of May, 1940, which
states that employers in desig-
nated industries shall not hire
workers except through the local
Employment Exchange of the

ministry of labor.

3. The Essential Work Order
of March 15, 1941, which decrees
that workers in “essential” indus-
tries may not leave their jobs —
and may not be dismissed —
without the permission of a na-
tional service officer representing
the labor ministry.

In exercising these powers,
Labor Minister Bevin works in
conjunction with the regional pro-
duction boards, on which the min-
istry of labor is represented.
Workers are transferred, not be-
cause of the whim of employers
or market fluctuations, but in ac-
cordance with the requirements
of an over-all economic plan for
the nation.

Further, the labor minister col-
Jaborates with the trade unions.
Three labor representatives Sit on
each of the regional production
boards, and it is the duty of the
national service officer, in the
case of disputed transfers, to con-
sult with the plant labor-man-
agement committees. The Essen-
tial Work Order considered by
many to be the most far-reaching
British legislation to have come
out of the war, was drawn up by
Bevin in close consultation with
representatives of the Trades
Union Congress.

e e °

W RETURN for its ruling that

no worker in an “essential”
plant may leave bis job without
the consent of a national service
officer, and that absentees shall
be liable to prosecution by the
WSO, the Essential Work Order
gives the workers the following
three guarantees:

i. Every “essential” firm must
pay its employees a guaranteed
‘normal’ weekly wage, whether
or not they are fully employed
all the week. The “normal” wage
is that previously arrived at by
collective bargaining between the
unions and employers’ federations
in the industry. In most cases,
the most recently negotiated wage
agreement is specifically referred
fo when the Essential Work Order
is applied to an industry. This
provision guarantees that workers
in war industries shall not be
penalized when they are tempor-
arily idle due to shortage of raw
materials or machine tools, it also
prevents certain firms within an
industry from paying sub-stand-
ard wages.

2 Every “essential” firm mioust
provide its employees with con-
ditions ‘not less favorable than
those general in the industry.
Under this and the above section
of the order, the collective bar-

gaining function of unions — al-
ways especially important in Bri-
tain in view of the lack of na-
tional wage-hour legislation — be-
comes part of the machinery of
government. New emphasis is
thus given to the role of trade
unions in the war effort.

3. In those plants,with joint
production committees, or coal
mines with pit production com-
mittees, the national service offi-
cer may not penalize a worker
for slackness or absenteeism with-
out first consulting the committee.
Further, the worker has the right
to appeal to a local appeals board,
on which labor is represented.
Since March, 1941, only one worker
out of 30,000 has been prosecuted
under the order.

When put into effect on March
15, 1941, the Essential Work Order
applied to nearly 100 industries.
On March i7 it was extended to
shipbuilding and repair, and later
to coal mining, the merchant mar-
ine, building and civil engineerng,
docks, iron and steel, cotton, agri-
culture and railways. Today the
order covers nearly 8,000,000 work-
ers. The Trades Union Congress,
at its annual conference in Black-
pool last September, expressed
general approval for the Essential
Work Order but resolved that it
be amended so as:

i. To provide shop steward
committees with the necessary
facilities to check on whether or
not managements are carrying out
their obligations under the order.

2. To make it compulsory for
all firms to which the order ap-
plies to set up labor-management
production committees,

(This is the last in the series

of special Allied Labor News
articles dealing with economic
mobilization in Britain. )

Nazis Thought Defenses
Would Stem Offensive

Te names of Kantemirovka and Boguchar bring to mind the difficult days in July wij
violent battles raged on the plains of the Don and when on these very same snow-cove §
mounds which were greem at the time, the Soviet regiments engaged the enemy in reargu’)
battles wearing down the German army, its manpower and equipment. ae

The charred, rusted framework
of German tanks put out of
action in July still loom on some
of the heights. There were many
more of them at the time — the
German engineers had to pu t ina
lot of work to patch up and re-
pair the disabled equipment.

Today these patched tanks
alongside with new ones only re-
cently off the conveyor have again
come to a standstill on the old
roads. Only now they face west
and not east.

By digging in, enmeshing posi-
tions in wire and planting mine
fields the Soviet units in those
difficult days halted the Germans
in the area of the Middle Don.
But every Red Army man under-
stood that that was not enough.
He realized that the enemy had
to be driven back and routed.
There was already bad news from
Vladikavkaz, the thunderclap at
Stalingrad, and the men at the
central front had already struck
out at the enemy; but here on
the Don all was quiet.

Meetings were in progress in
different units. The men and com-
manders hailed the successes of
the Stalingrad troops and were
saying that they were prepared
at a minute’s notice to go into
battle. In the meantime the huge
and complex offensive was care-
fully being prepared.

s es 2°
HOUSANDS of persons went
about their work with utmost
accuracy and organization. Bat-
tle time tables were drawn up at
headquarters. Front line railway
men secretly brought their train-
loads of ammunition up to the
front. Detachments of men lay
new roads through forest and

snow-covered steppe.

Under cover of darkness reserve
units took up the positions indi-

and quick victory.”

other persons.”

Efficient Management
Demanded By Cripps

LONDON.

j SS the determination of the government to
mobilize Britain’s industry for all-out war, Sir Stafford
Cripps, newly-appointed minister of aircraft production,
last week warned in a nationwide BBC broadcast that
he would “override any individual, company or class that
puts sectional interests before the need to win a complete

“Inefficiency in management is as great a breach of
duty to the country as absenteeism among workers, and
has an even wider effect upon production,” he said. “Di-
rectors who do not devote themselves wholeheartedly and
energetically to their work are more to blame than any

Stressing the value of trade unions to the war effort,
Cripps said: ‘Every keen worker will be a union member,
for it is only through the trade unions that you will en-
sure fair terms and conditions and avoid friction between
employer and worker. I will always be only too anxious
to get the advice and help of workers through their unions,
and I will always be ready to meet with union officials.

“We have now reached the time when the inflow of
fresh labor into the aircraft industry will gradually dry
up, and yet we must continue to expand production. This
we must do not by longer hours—which only lead to ex-
haustion and inefficieney—but by cutting out waste of
labor and materials. If in a factory there is not a joint
production committee, the workers must see that their
trade union gets one at once.
should be a committee representing the workers, tech-
nicians and management, constantly improving effici-

In every factory there

ency in the use of men and materials.”

By B. BORISOV

Soviet War Correspondent

cated and concentrated there.
Scouts sent out their feelers in the
enemy defenses. Artillery men
marked off their targets and sap-
pers the roads along which the
Soviet tanks would move and
prepared to demine the ap-
proaches to the German positions.

We had the opportunity to travel
the road leading to the Don and
saw for ourselves how thoroughly
this operation had been planned.
Special shields protecting the road
against snowdrifts were prepared
and signs put up. Heated dugouts
were equipped for the lightly
wounded waiting to be picked up
by ambulances. Canteens and
special stations where the men
could warm up were organized
along the road of the offensive,
the best house in every village
being used for this purpose.

Indoors the floors of the rooms
were scrubbed clean, the walls
lined with bunks covered with
straw mats ,and on the table the
latest newspapers and magazines.
There was also a traveling repair
shop in every village.

When all the preparations up
to the smallest detail were com-
pleted the units received the order
to go into action. The enemy,
of course, knew that the Soviet
troops here as on the other sec-
tors of the front may strike a
blow. But the Hitlerites reckoned
that their defense system, built
in the course of a number of
months, would exhaust the Rus-
sians and break the fervor of the
Soviet offensive.

° ° e

T LAST came the hour for

which the troops of the Vor-
onezh and the southwestern
fronts had patiently waited. The
two fronts, operating in complete
harmony and organizing their in-
teraction ,to perfection, simultan-
eously rose from their trenches
and surged to the west.

Much has been written about it
and there is hardly any need to
repeat how the artillery prepara-
tion was carried out, how the
sappers moved ahead clearing the
road for the tanks, how the tanks
htmselves rumbled forward, how
the infantry went into the at-
tack,

To put it in a few words, on
the banks of the Don metal
thundered down on the heads of
the Nazis in such quantities that
it seemed at times as if dozens
of iron and steel works had simul-
taneously opened their blast furn-
aces.

The Germans were fully aware
of what the consequences of this
blow held in store for them as
they desperately clung to every
position. The hillocks dug up by
the German sappers and the vil-
lages converted into fortresses
were difficult to surmount — and

oi

Continued

Don

artillery, equipment and tai |
Red Army men were putter {
around and running from dug @
to dugout.
@ ;
E CLIMBED a hillock twe
meters from the dugout
a regimental commander and <
a recovered strip of the I
with patches of blue ‘water,
bridge blown up by the Germz
Red Army men moving along |
ice to the left of the bridge,
village of Vertyachy situated —
a meadow bank, and the chain
our troops creeping towards i
The Germans retreated to
eastern bank of the Don fear #
encirclement in the bend and &
the crossing at Vertyachy 7
their last crossing. Emerging ~
the eastern bank they for’
thmselves in a far worse positi {
Hence their furious resistance ¥
this inhabited point, which + }
actually a very unimportant oc”

capture of a village in the fi
hours of battle was equivalent
the storming of a big-town in ©
First World War. The Red Ar
men had a difficult job, but tt
understcod that these difficult |
had to be taken in their stride
make the morrow easier. ;

Gradually the enemy fortif
line was pierced and taken. 7
break through widened and |
Soviet units spread out fanw
Important communications w-
intercepted. Overhead the Soy
planes, despite the poor weatt
were striking out at the retreat
enemy. The Germans abando?
their fortified positions after 5
paring for action for month:

° e °

OW they are clinging to ev

height, to every village <
are feverishly trying to buile
new fortified belt. But the Sox
regiments are tenaciously oust
them from every position |
which the Nazi are trying to
fanize more or less long-term ~
sistance.

The short December day
drawing to a close and darkn
is rapidly falling. But the er |
battle on the western bank of
Don continues with routine t
acity. The front knows 0 Trt
The units are advancing. In tk
wake, alone the beaten tra-
moves an endless stream of re
forcements, columns of tanks =
trucks, with ammunition — —
heading west.

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