472 SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
to the number of machines and scrapers worked by employees, number of places supervised by employees, etc.
(It
may be pointed out that the difficulties over the issue of 'dilution of
labour' could, and in fact, did arise in other countries, e.g. the
United Kingdom, between workers of different skills etc. even though
both classes belonged to the same race.)
It
was while these issues were being debated in Northern Rhodesia that
Ernest Oppenheimer began to be actively interested in the problem. He
feared that a situation was arising in which white labour, protected by
the colour bar and by the inability of the companies to refuse demands
made by the white workers, would sooner or later produce a situation
resembling that of the Rand in 1922. On 23 April 1941, he was writing
to Harry Oppenheimer:
The union is making a great deal of trouble; their demands are:
1. increased basic wage of 25. per day for artisans,
2. more housing accommodation at Nkana,
3. the 'closed shop'.
The
latter they propose to take whether we agree or not and it is for the
Government to deal with the men, because the Government objects to a
closed shop because it is tantamount to a 'colour bar'.
Evidently some further housing accommodation is required at N'Kana and we shall have to do something about it.
As regards the former, ------ advises against concessions in view of the
finding
of the commission only a few months ago. But are we going to refuse and
risk a strike or finally give in at the request of the Government ? The
labour position is developing on the same lines as the position on the
Rand during the last war. In the Johannesburg case gold was essential
for war purposes, and in Northern Rhodesia copper is essential for war
purposes. The men know that we do not want a strike, and would not
allow a strike to develop out of patriotic reasons, and they make the
most of it.
The
25. now asked for is unimportant, the whole scale of wages is already
out of hand; it is not normal when underground miners draw cheques of
^150 up to ^200 per month. It is clear to me that further requests will
be made and that we cannot fight during the war. The reckoning will
come after the war at a time when the demand for copper is low and when
through costs of production we can earn no dividends. We shall see a
'1922 strike' in Northern Rhodesia and just as communism was mixed up
with the strike in 1922 in Johannesburg, so politics will enter into
the Northern Rhodesian position when bad times come after the war. In
the meantime we must produce copper for the war effort.
