War-Time Labour Problems and Policies in Canada

Abstract

The comment is often made that Canada has no war labour policy. Before dealing with this question, it may be well to consider some of the difficulties that attend any effort to determine and administer a national labour policy, especially in time of war. The problems of geography, uneven distribution of population, depressed areas, concentration of industry, and varying standards of living, together with the many revisions of policy necessitated by an ever-changing war need, can only be mentioned, but they constantly intrude on plan and practice. Inertia, easy assumptions that the ways of peace need not be changed materially and that the methods of the last war are good enough in this crisis, put a brake on the formulation of plans and their prompt execution.There are Canadians who still do not realize, as Mr. Menzies, the Prime Minister of Australia, said, that the British people are engaged in the deadliest war of their history. Some employers and workers do not appreciate the proportions of the war programme or the necessity for many departures from peace-time procedures. Certain firms still feel that they will be able to secure all the labour they require and respond but slowly to appeals to train more workers, to thin out their skilled staffs, and to up-grade labour. Although the Minister of Labour has received a number of voluntary offers from trade unions to work longer than the usual hours at straight time, there are those who hold that the forty-hour week, urged in depression years as a device for spreading work rather than increasing earnings through higher overtime rates, should be maintained.