THE NATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
ment relations with each other, is an essential part of the individual
right of contract possessed by each of the parties.
All men possess the equal right to associate voluntarily for the
accomplishment of lawful purposes by lawful means. The associa-
tion of men, whether of employers, employees or others, for collec-
tive action or dealing, confers no authority over, and must not deny
any right of, those who do not desire to act or deal with them.
The public welfare, the protection of the individual, and sound
employment relations require that associations or combinations of
employers or employees, or both, must equally be subject to the
authority of the State and legally responsible to others for their
conduct and that of their agents.
To develop, with due regard for the health, safety and well-being
of the individual, the required output of industry is the common
social obligation of all engaged therein. The restriction of produc-
tive effort or of output by either employer or employee for the
purpose of creating an artificial scarcity of the product or of labor
is an injury to society.
The wage of labor must come out of the product of industry and
must be earned and measured by its contribution thereto. In order
that the worker, in his own and the general interest, may develop
his full productive capacity, and may thereby earn at least a wage
sufficient to sustain him upon a proper standard of living, it is the
duty of management to cooperate with him to secure continuous
employment suited to his abilities, to furnish incentive and oppor-
tunity for improvement, to provide proper safeguards for his health
and safety and to encourage him in all practicable and reasonable
ways to increase the value of his productive effect.
The number of hours in the work day or week in which the
maximum output, consistent with the health and well-being of the
individual, can be maintained in a given industry should be ascer-
tained by careful study and never should be exceeded except in case
of emergency, and one day of rest in seven, or its equivalent, should
be provided. The reduction in working hours below such economic
limit, in order to secure greater leisure for the individual, should be
made only with full understanding and acceptance of the fact that
it involves a commensurate loss in the earning power of the workers.
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