20) MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

Effect on General Level of Wages

The Commonwealth Court of Arbitration decided in 1915 that
workers were not compelled to work at minimum rates and that
refusal to do so was not a strike. The court declared expressly that
an employer is quite at liberty “to seek by extra wages to attract
men who, as he thinks, will give him extra speed and efficiency.” **
The above-mentioned policy of distinction between the basic wage
for unskilled labor and the secondary supplementary wage for skilled
labor works in a parallel direction. The margin between the earnings
 of skilled and of unskilled workers is, however, only about. 20 to
25 per cent as compared to a margin of from 65 to 75 per cent in
Great Britain and an average margin of from 60 to 70 per cent in
the United States.’
In an undeveloped country labor is generally scarce and insufficient
 for the development of great resources, and the unskilled
laborer has a stronger position than in the better-developed countries.
The wage-fixing legislation is credited with having a large part in
bringing about this greater uniformity of earnings in Australia.
The prevalence of collective agreements and awards in the States
where agreements or conflicts between associations come before the
courts seems to have a particular influence on the standardization
of wages, although it does not become complete.

Influence on Discharge of Slow Workers and Unemployment
The percentage of unemployed among trade-union members in the
last six years in Australia is as follows:

Third quarter of—
1922 _
DTD crane iii imi mln tee et
tit iim mest tm ts pet em mrs
2522 SO
2926
1927.

Per cent of
unemployed
a3
71
"9
8

(7

These figures are in no way extravagant. The provision of the
laws that licenses may be issued for slow workers authorizing them to
work below the fixed rates seems to work.

Influence on Industrial Peace

President Henry B. Higgins, of the Commonwealth Court, states *°
that from the establishment of the arbitration court up to 1915 there
was no strike extending beyond the limits of a single State. From
1915 to 1918 there were two ordinary strikes and one sympathetic
strike. Ome was settled by political influences. In the second case
penalties were imposed on the strikers and the workers had to re-$
 Harvard Law Review, January, 1919, p. 193: “A new provinee of law and order.”
by Henry Bournes Higgins.
* International Labor Office. International Labor Review, Geneva, December, 1924,
3 969: “Development of State wage legislation in Australia and New Zealand,” by
orothy McDaniel Sells.
® Australia. Bureau of Census and Statistics. Quarterly Summary of Australian Sta
tistics, Melbourne, September, 1927, B 64. ”
“® Harvard Law Review, January, 1919, p. 206: “A new province for law and order,
by Henry Bournes Higgins.