Abstract
THE annual council meeting of the Association of Scientific Workers was held in Birmingham on May 24 and 25; eighty delegates were present representing scientific workers and engineers in industrial and Government posts as well as university staff and students. As tliis was the first council meeting to be held since the registration of the Association as a trade union, the reports presented, and the ensuing discussion, were chiefly concerned with the planning of an industrial policy for the Association. Discussion centred mainly around a report by the Industrial Sub-Committee which analysed the present conditions of scientific and engineering staff. This report showed that even under peace-time conditions, there is a considerable difference between salaries paid to people having the same qualifications but employed by different firms. In the engineering industry, for example, the general salary level is notably less than in certain chemical firms. Increments were often obtained by negotiation between the employer, and the individual, but war-time restrictions on change of employment have removed the individual's chief bargaining instrument. A survey among members of the Association shows that there is a marked tendency in industry for no increments to be given, while in Government establishments war-time posts carry a fixed salary.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Association of Scientific Workers. Nature 147, 707 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147707a0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147707a0