[130] See pages 183-4, this chapter.
[131] The Printing Trades Case, South Australian Industrial Reports, Vol. II (1918-19), page 252.
[132] The suggestion put forward in the "Report of the War Cabinet Committee on Women and Industry" (Great Britain), 1918, is as follows: "In such cases," the report reads, "the time rates for the simplified process or simplified machine should be determined as if this was to be allocated to male labor less skilled than the male labor employed before simplification. Only where it was definitely shown by employers that the value of the woman's work on the simplified process or machine was less than the value of the unskilled man, should the woman, if her introduction is agreed to, receive less than the unskilled man's rate in proportion to the value of her work." Page 192.
[133] See pages 114-20, Chapter VI.
[134] A number of collective agreements in which the arrangements for wage adjustment to price decline are similar to those suggested here, have recently been negotiated in England. The wage scales established in 1919 for many grades of railroad workers are an example. So also, the agreement of the Wool Textile Industrial Council, in October, 1919. The following agreement made for the Yorkshire Dyeing and Finishing Industry in March, 1919, may be given as an example.
"(7) When the index figure as defined in classes 4 and 5 hereof exceeds 107 per cent. the War Wages shall be:—
"To male and female timeworkers—107.90 per cent. of the basis wage.
"To male and female pressworkers—85.672 per cent. of the basis wage.
"To hand pressers—64.254 per cent. of the basis wage, and when the index figure is 107 or less, but not less than 100, the percentage war wages of timeworkers shall be equal to the index figures; for every 1 per cent. decrease in the index figure below 100 the war wages of timeworkers shall be decreased ¾ of 1 per cent. The ratio of percentage war wages of timeworkers, pieceworkers and pressers respectively, shall for all index figures, be the same as that shown for index figures, exceeding 107."
[135] "Cost of Living and Wages," F. W. Taussig, Collier's Weekly, Sept. 27, 1919.