Page 441 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Wages and Conditions.
But a man is not necessarily a hireling because employed at a
fixed wage; otherwise many famous ambassadors, admirals,
generals, and public officials could be so written down.
At the
time of the strikes of 1911 Sir George Askwith, for instance, was
such a paid servant, with no expectation of a commission or bonus
on the sum that his arbitration might save to the nation. There
is nothing necessarily degrading in payment by wages only, so
long as there remains some rough and tolerable justice in the
proportion of wages to service. And while rejecting profit-sharing,
the Committee, in the main, endeavoured to deal justly. It is
said that working men are always the worst employers. Usually
this opinion is arrived at by generaUsing rather too freely. No
doubt there are co-operators always to be found who wilUngly would
" muzzle the ox," but a dispassionate study of any history of
co-operators as employers is likely to show the more generous mind
as predominant. In the case of the C.W.S., the memories of old
employees bear witness to a liberal tendency, also indicated by the
official figures of the Society. The C.W.S. Annual gives every year
a ratio of wages paid in the distributive departments for every £100
of sales, and this figure has increased every decade, being 5s. Id. in
1871, then 10s. lOd., 15s. Id., 19s. 2d., and 20s. 6d. in 1911. This,
however, does not mean that wages have trebled or quadrupled,
for these figures are greatly affected by extensions of the business
into new trades more costly to work. A closer reckoning is
afforded by statistics from the wage-books for the main depart-
ments at Balloon Street. These figures go back to 1869, and,
if we take 1872 as a basis, they show an average improvement over
that year per head of 4s. 9d. in 1882, 6s. Id. in 1892, 8s. 3d. in 1902,
and 12s. 7d. (or 50 per cent over 1872) in 1912. But again, being
an average over all classes and ages in a body of employees
increasing from 32 in 1872 to 1,684 (in these departments) at the
end of March, 1913, these comparisons are not to be taken as of
certain value in themselves, but simply as witnessing to a progressive
policy.
While the standard of wages thus was rising, the general
conditions also improved. The hours of employment in the offices
and warehouses decreased to 44 in 1903. Rather more than two
half-day holidays are needed to equal the value of a full day,
especially where train journeys from suburbs are demanded, and
the pubUc hoHdays that before 1898 used to be half-days at the
C.W.S. are now full days. The annual hoUday for the clerical and
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