18
It wmiet be illegal tor any luilviduai ems
pleyer, or for any scction of employees,
to seels to make any alteration as to wages,
hours of employment, or other working
nonditions without first ascertaining, by
means of a secret ballot, the wishes of the
whole of the employers or employees (as
the case may be) who are engaged in that
particular trade within the district.
In order to participate in profits, every
employee would have to register under a
trade with the central authority, and the
amount due to each at the end of the
trading period could be ascertained most
simply by the adoption of the tote system.
The Future.
I have shown how, where the working
ponditions of the employee are the em-
ployer’s first and personal consideration,
friction and industrial disputes are brought
to a miniamm. or are entirely done away
Our Industrial Problems.
with, and that where welfare work 1s car:
ried on increased efficiency and increased
profits are the invariable result. This is
not merely an opinion, but an established
fact. If, then, to this is added a profit-
sharing basis of business where the em-
ployce has also a great personal incen-
tive to do his best to make a success of
sommercial enterprise, you arrive at a
standard of industrial relationship where
the well-being of the industry and the well-
being of the individual are inseparable.
Once welfare work ‘is recognised as the
rule, and not as the exception, the great
majority of cmployees will be on the
side of the employer, and will volun-
tarily repudiate strikes, ca canny tactics,
and the degrading tyranny of the open
ballot, and, by their influence, will compel
the discontented minority, the agitator,
and the propagandist of class-hatred “and
commercial stagnation, to come in or to
wet out—of Australia.
— —
Short Stories and
Sketches
Are a regular feature of
“The Western Mail”
The Editor is always pleased to receive these, particular-
ly when they have a Western Australian or Common-
wealth setting and are brightly written.
