Page 442 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

The Story of the C.W.S.

distributive workers increased from seven days to ten and then (1896)
to fourteen, which is the present maximum for all employees from
the office boys to the buyers. Overtime for the clerical staff and in
the warehouses long has ceased to be the terror that it was, and this
while the accommodation for the clerks has changed for the better.
Mr. Stott, of the C.W.S. Bank, first entered the service of the C.W.S.
in 1870, and can speak in 1913 of the conditions of those days.
From the earlier year until well into the eighties frequently there
would be overtime every night, and far into the nights, as well as
on Saturday afternoons, with a few pence for refreshments as the
sole reward. A systematic reduction of overtime, as well as a higher
scale of wages, is represented by the figures previously quoted.
It should be added that these improvements preceded any
organisation of the workers, and were due to no permanent collective
pressure by the employees themselves.

Alike in C.W.S. departments and works trade union wages
and conditions is the general affirmation. But in every case the
full value of the statement can only appear in relation to details
which cannot be reduced to figures. A fair day's wage for a fair
day's work, we say. It seems a simple proposition, comfortably
to be settled over a pipe and a newspaper after supper. Actually,
even that sort of justice which reasonable men are willing to put
up with in a non-miUennial age cannot be rendered without a close
reckoning with factors obscure, delicate, and complex. If not
only the wages per hour or by the piece, but also the quality, the
intensity and the strain and anxiety of human effort—if all could
be reduced to a unit of simple value, probably we should find
employees in advertised model workshops in worse condition than
others less well paid. Upon any fair balancing of conditions, the
C.W.S., in regard to the classes of labour which most suffer under
competition, would stand very high indeed.
The establishment of a minimum wage for men and women will
be reviewed later. Apart from this, the employees in nearly all
the C.W.S. productive works have enjoyed an advantage in hours.
An official return, prepared in December, 1911, showed that of
fifty factories and productive and packing departments, thirty
were under a 48-hour week or less, while twenty exceeded that
figure by three to eight hours weekly. Of all the employees, over
4,000 were then on 44 hours or less, over 7,300 on 47 to 48 hours, and
only 866 exceeded 53^ hours. In many instances, the fewer hours
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