MORE WAGES, LESS WORK. PIANO FIRM’S DECISION. A MORAL FOR THE NATION.

Under-production – the besetting danger which threatens the national prosperity and retards recovery from the ravages of war – following the cheerful concession of largely-increased wages, appears to be responsible for the fact that in less than a week’s time work will cease at the factory of the old-established piano firm of John Brinsmead and Sons Limited, at Kentish Town. This intelligence has been received with keen regret by the musical world, in which the name of the famous firm is, of course, a household word. Approximately 300 employees are affected, all the members of the staff at the show-rooms in Wigmorestreet, with the exception of the secretary, being under notice, in addition to the employees at the factory. Mr. Henry Billinghurst, the managing director, when seen by a representative of The Daily Telegraph yesterday, emphasised his remark, which appears in his written statement, given below, that “there is no quarrel whatever with the Brinsmead workpeople on the wage question”. But the following extract from this statement paints an obvious moral, which it is to be hoped will not be lost on workers in this and other industries. In the old homely phrase, it seems to be a case of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs:

Output, instead of rising, has steadily fallen, and whereas before the war it took less than six men to complete a piano, and in 1918 twelve men, to-day the rate of production means twenty-six men to a piano, and it is still falling ... Brinsmeads are actually paying more in wages alone, on their reduced output, than the price they are able to sell their pianos at.

The following circular, dated Feb. 4, and signed by Mr. Alfred W. Beuttell, the factory manager, has been communicated to the employees at the factory, who seem to have been greatly surprised by it, though they have as yet made no collective reply:

I have been requested by the directors to express to you their intense regret and disappointment at having arrived at a decision to cease work at the factory a week hence. Your committee, with whom the management have been in frequent consultation, cannot be surprised at this decision. You are aware of the low figure to which the output of the factory has fallen. For each piano despatched per week there are now twenty-six employees against twelve in 1918, and six immediately before the war. The factory wages alone per piano exceed the selling price. The cost of polishing only is approximately equal to the prewar prime cost of the completed piano, including materials. In the meantime the company had embarked on a big scheme for improving the factory and its working conditions.

The directors cannot continue to work the factory at the present heavy loss on production, and the steps which they have now resolved upon have been taken solely with a view to conserving the resources of the company. In place of giving the one hour’s notice prescribed by your trade union’s rules, the directors, in their desire to mitigate any hardship which may ensue, have decided to give

the employees one week’s notice, terminating on the 11th inst. at 6.30 p.m. To alleviate further the position, the directors are prepared to receive during the ensuing week offers of service from present employees for the work necessary to complete the closing down.