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

THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE FACTORY WORKER. 25 of the factory permitsit. He should be subordinate to no one except the general manager of the factory, and should be carefully selected. peo technical qualifications are not essential for the appointment, t ne a general knowledge of the processes is necessary. } Integrity, persona ’ y energy, the gift of understanding individuals and linguistic facility are g main qualities required. No employee should be engaged except by t . labour officer personally, in consultation with departmental heads, and none should be dismissed without his consent, except by the manager himself, after hearing what the labour officer has to say. It should be the business of the labour officer to ensure that no employee is discharged without adequate cause; if he is of the right type, the workers will rapidly learn to place confidence in him and to regard him as their friend. There are many other duties which such an officer can fulfil. particularly in respect of welfare ; we propose to indicate some of these in connection with other subjects. Contrel over Appointments and Dismissals. The system here recommended has already been tried in a few Indian factories and big industrial enterprises, and, where the right type of officer has been employed, it has generally met with conspicuous success. In one case, however, the attempt to introduce it was defeated by the workers themselves. The account of this attempt furnished to us by the employers leaves no doubt that the jobbers were responsible for the workers’ opposition ; and no doubt in many cases it will be ex- tremely difficult to defeat the jobbers’ machinations. Were it not for this difficulty and the fear of trouble, more persistent endeavours in this direc- tion would doubtless have been made by many employers. Associations of employers could with advantage consider and determine upon a com- mon policy in an attempt to stamp out bribery. Weare satisfied, how- ever, as are the employers who made the experiment referred to, that the method is bound to be of material and permanent benefit to labour, once the initial difficulty has been overcome. Where a union is in existence, its co-operation should be sought and should generally be available, but in some cases the jobbers’ influence is potent even within the union. Where it is not possible to employ a whole-time labour officer, the manager or some responsible officer should retain complete control of engagements and dismissals. This, of course, is only possible where the controlling officers are prepared to keep the same hours as the workers—a requirement which is not the invariable rule in one big industrial centre The Supervision of Women. The supervision of women presents special difficulties. When undertaken, as ig generally the case, by male jobbers, it leads to serious abuses and has resulted in representations tothe Commission. Where women workers are numerous, they are often under the charge of cther women, known commonly as natkins or mukeddamin. This system reduces, but does not always eliminate, the greater evils arising from male supervision. Too often, however, the naikin has the rapacity

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