Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter III. - The employment of the factory worker

Collection:: Economics Books

24 CHAPTER III. his other functions some of those frequently discharged by trade union officials in the West, and he is occasionally found acting in the capacity of a strike leader. We shall have occasion later to discuss the absence of direct contact between employer and employed, which is a marked feature in many factories, and merely note here that too often those responsible for management are unable to make themselves adequately understood by the workers, and in consequence have to rely on the jobbers as interpreters. The Jobber and Bribery. The temptations of the jobbers’ position are manifold, and it would be surprising if these men failed to take advantage of their opportunities. There are few factories where a worker’s security is not, to some extent, in the hands of a jobber ; in a number of factories the latter has in practice the power to engage and to dismiss a worker. We were satisfied that it is a fairly general practice for the jobber to profit financially by the exercise of this power. The evil varies in in- tensity from industry to industry and from céntre to centre. It is nsual for a fee to be exacted as the price of engagement, or of re-employ- ment after a period of absence. In many cases a smaller regular pay- ment has’ also to be made out of each month’s wages. In other cases workers have to supply the jobber with drink or other periodical offer- ings in kind. The jobber himself has at times to subsidise the head jobber ; and it is said that even members of the supervising staff some- times receive a share of the bribe. Origin of Bribery. The general prevalence of the system was admitted by a number of employers and managers, but few had made serious endeavours to check it. Some appeared to be disposed to excuse themselves by the belief that the system was in some way natural to the country. True, the distinction between a gratuity and a bribe is not always clear, but not even those who thought the latter term too hard in this connec- tion attempted to defend the system; it is actual extortion in many cages, and it is impossible to regard it as other than a vicious practice. We are disposed to ascribe the evil to the grant to uneducated and un- controlled persons of power to make appointments and dismissals. If labour becomes more plentiful, it is certain that the evil will attain even larger dimensions than at present unless special efforts are made to check it. Labour Officers. We believe that, by systematic effort, bribery can be substantially reduced, if not eliminated, with great benefit to all concerned. The pre- sent power of the jobber is given by the employer, who permits him to select or engage labour and to influence or procure its dismissal. We advocate for all factories the exclusion of the jobber from the engagement and dismissal of labour. This can best be achieved by the employment of a labour officer, and this is the course we recommend wherever the scale

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