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. 27 present system. It would give the worker an increased sense of security and of attachment to a particular factory, and greater efficiency would follow. Holiday Allowances. At the same time we urge that, wherever possible, an allowance should be given to the worker who goes on leave after approved service. The value of holidays in maintaining and increasing efficiency is undoubt- ed ; and few workers need these holidays so much as those employed in Indian factories. The recognition of the claim of the worker to some allowance for a specified period while on recognised leave would have a distinct influence in converting the labour force of a factory from a con- stantly changing and unsettled mass to a regular and contented group of workers. The effects on discipline and efficiency would be marked, and sickness and absenteeism would be greatly reduced. Most Government factories give such allowances ; In some cases workers in such factories are eligible for leave with pay on a scale which must be superior to that en- joyed by any other industrial workers in the world, We do not suggest that private employers should or could attempt to emulate the practice. The scale of allowance is of less importance than the recognition of the leave of absence. TItis noteworthy that Government factories are gene- rally able to attract a settled labour force, even where leave allowances are far from liberal or virtually lacking ; the attraction is the greater security of tenure, and this is largely dependent on the fact that a Government factory worker can generally go on a period of absence, if he needs it, with a guarantee of re-employment on his return. Lack of Education. To some extent, the prevalence of bribery is attributable to lack of education among the workers; indeed many more, troubles arise from this cause. In India nearly the whole mass of industrial labour is illiterate, a state of affairs which Is unknown in any other country of industria] importance. It is almost impossible to over- estimate the consequences of this disability, which are obvious in wages, in health, in productivity, in organisation and in several other directions. Modern machine industry depends in a peculiar degree on education, and the attempt to build it up with an illiterate body of workers must be difficult and perilous. We would emphasise the fact that, precisely because of this. the education of industrial labour should receive special attention Education of Half-timers. Many employers have endeavoured to do something towards making good the deficiency by means of factory schools and a few of the schools we saw are admirable examples of their kind, and represent a big outlay in cost and thought. There is, however, a fairly general tendency to concentrate in such schools on the education of half-timers. We are anxious not to discourage any attempt to meet so obvious a need. But though useful work is done In some cases, the truth is that 00 often the results are incommensurate with the effort. A child is seldom capable of putting in 5 or 6 hours’ work in a factory and learning

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