ABSTRACT
wages are central to the problems of industrial relations, and more controversies and conflicts arise about wages than about any other subject. This is not surprising, as wages provide the workers' standards of living and, in most industries, they form a high proportion of the employers' costs of production. The issue between the two is essentially: What, in the last resort, are the workers willing to accept, and what can employers afford to pay? It is a frequent practice in wage bargaining for workers to claim more than they are willing to accept, and at the end of the negotiations they will often agree to something less than their original demands. Similar tactics are adopted by employers. Each tries to probe the strength of the other side, and conflicts may result because of ignorance or insufficient knowledge on one or both sides. Greater availability of reliable information on the capacity of industry to pay would narrow the margin of dispute and facilitate the reaching of agreement.
