England There is no legal machinery, strictly speaking, for the adjustment of wage disputes on the railways, but effective machinery is in existence which is quasi-official, consisting of an agreement between the railroads and their employees, which was originally negotiated by a representative of the Board of Trade in 1907. It was amended as the result of conferences and the report of a royal commission in 1911. By this agreement boards are created, with equal representation of railroads and employees, to perform the conciliation work not settled by direct negotiation between the parties. If a settlement cannot be reached, a neutral chairman or umpire, selected by the conciliation boards from a panel prepared by the Board of Trade, is called in, and his decision is final. There is no legislation prohibiting or making illegal strikes and lockouts. There are no penalties against strikes and lockouts. The adjustment of disputes on other public utilities and in the mining industry is provided for in the Conciliation Act of 1896. Conciliators or boards of conciliation are appointed on the application of both parties, selected from panels of employers, employees, and "persons of eminence and impartiality" established by the Board of Trade. For conciliation proceedings the Board of Trade acts on its own initiative or by the request of either party; for arbitration, on the application of both parties. France The only qualification as to complete freedom of action in the railway service is that any engineer, fireman, or trainman shall not desert his post during the progress of a journey. Postal employees and employees in shipping service controlled by the Government are prohibited from striking. Desertion of trains between terminals is punishable with imprisonment ranging from six months to two years. Postal and other civil employees may be dismissed or suffer losses in pay. The monopoly privilege may be withdrawn from the shipping service on which a strike occurs. In all occupations except those mentioned the right of employers and employees to take concerted action in a peaceful manner with a view to cessation of work has been officially recognized since 1884. On October 2, 1910, the National Federation of Railway Employees of France and the Federation of Unions of Railway Engineers and Firemen called a general strike on all the railroads of the country. The Government, using its full authority under military laws, called for a mobilization of the strikers, and ordered them to do military duty for three weeks. Their military duties were specified as the keeping of the railways under normal working conditions under the orders of their superior officers. This measure defeated the strike, which was called off after six days. Germany Means for enabling railway workers of all groups to bring their requests and grievances to the notice of all authorities have been instituted by all the State railway administrations in Germany under the name of workmen's committees. Strikes and lockouts are practically prohibited on public utilities. There are no specific laws forbidding strikes, but rules and practices of railway and other public utilities administration make strikes impossible. About 90 per cent of the organized railway employees belong to unions, the by-laws of which specifically waive all claim to the right to strike. No specific penalties exist for engaging in strikes, but workmen are forbidden to belong to unions which assert the right to strike. All union organizations and by-laws are subject to governmental sanction. The coercive force of the law is found in the fact that a railway employee who engaged in a strike would be dismissed or fail of advancement in his work. Every Government employee looks forward to attaining the status of an "official," and this is practically impossible if he belongs to or is known to sympathize with a trade-union which does not meet with Government approval. Holland Delegates are selected from different groups of railway employees who are authorized to present the wishes and complaints of railway workers before the managers. Arbitration boards have been established for the enforcement of penalties imposed because of infractions of working rules and conditions. Strikes in railway service are prohibited. Imprisonment or fine is imposed for violations. Legislation prohibiting strikes was the outcome of a general strike in the Dutch railway service in 1903. Italy Strikes are prohibited in railway and public service. Fine and loss of employment are the penalties provided for enforcement of anti-strike legislation. Legislation relative to fines and loss of employment would not practically prevent strikes, because of the impossibility of enforcing the law upon so many individuals. The real restraining influence is the power of the Government to call out the reserves and compel strikers to resume work under military law. Ottoman Empire In the case of a dispute relative to wages or working conditions, a conciliation board is organized, composed of six members, three representing employers and three representing employees. The boards are presided over by an official appointed by the Government. The agreements reached by these boards are enforced by the Government. If the parties to the dispute cannot agree, the employees are free to stop work, but nothing must be done by them opposed to freedom of action. Strikes in public utilities are unlawful until grounds of dispute are communicated to the Government and attempts at conciliation have failed. Imprisonment or fine is imposed for violations. The organization of trade-unions in establishments carrying out any public service is forbidden. Portugal Strikes and lockouts are illegal in public utilities until eight to twelve days notice has been given, together with a statement as to the causes for a strike. Loss of employment is the penalty for violations. In all services, except public utilities, strikes have been expressly permitted since the establishment of the Republic in 1910. Rumania Strikes are prohibited in public utilities. Imprisonment and loss of employment result from violations. No employee of a public utility can join a trade-union without the authorization of the Government. Russia Strikes are prohibited among employees of public utilities. Imprisonment and loss of employment are penalties. Authorities may arrest or banish strikers without bringing them before a court. Spain Strikes are illegal in public utilities until five to eight days notice is given, together with a statement as to the cause of the strike. Leaders and officials of labor organizations or concerted movements who do not make a declaration as to the causes for a strike are liable to imprisonment. In industries other than public utilities strikes are expressly allowed, provided they are not accompanied by threats or violence. Switzerland The Canton of Geneva has established a system of conciliation and arbitration. Conciliators are elected directly by the two parties to the dispute. If they cannot reach a settlement, recourse is had to an arbitration board under Government auspices. There is no law for the settlement of disputes in the Federal railway service. Strikes are prohibited in the Federal railway service and in the Canton of Geneva whenever an industrial agreement or award is broken. In the Federal service strikes are punishable by fines and reprimands. There are no penalties in the Canton of Geneva. There have been no strikes on the railways of Switzerland since their nationalization in 1897. Transvaal The Transvaal law is administered by a department of labor. Boards of investigation are appointed on the request of either party to a dispute. The board has the power of the Supreme Court as to securing evidence, etc., but cannot make binding orders. Failing the adjustment of a dispute by agreement, the board reports to the Minister of Labor its recommendations, which are officially published and also given to the newspapers. In public utilities, the mining industry, and in any other industry to which the provisions of the act are extended by proclamation, strikes are unlawful until after an inquiry by a Government board and until one month after the publication of the board's report. Any striker is liable to a fine of £10 to £50 a day, and, in default of fine, imprisonment, or imprisonment for three months without the option of fine. Any one encouraging another to strike may be fined £50 to £250 or given six months imprisonment. Any employer declaring a lockout may be fined £100 to £1,000 a day, or given twelve months imprisonment. The Transvaal law is based, as regards prevention and procedure, upon the Canadian industrial disputes investigation act of 1907. References-Affirmative STRIKES (By BEN W. HOOPER, Chairman of the United States Railroad Labor Board, in the Saturday Evening Post, October 14, 1922.) The method devised by Congress and embraced in the Transportation Act for the adjustment of railroad labor disputes was a strange combination of strength and weakness. It contained mandatory requirements that the carriers and the employees should endeavor, in conference, to settle all disputes, and failing to reach an agreement should submit the controversy to the Railroad Labor Board. It provided that the Board should hear and decide all such disputes, but it did not provide any means or method for the enforcement of the Board's decisions other than the right conferred upon the Board to make public the fact that either party had violated a given decision. Here was a new experiment in American legislation, a law without the sanction of a penalty, a tribunal required to pass upon questions involving hundreds of millions of dollars and the precious rights of millions of men, leaving to both parties absolute unfettered freedom to violate the final decision and to visit upon the whole nation the grievous results of such violation. It was expected that the Board should make its decisions so obviously "just and reasonable" that they would be voluntarily accepted by both parties. It was apparently not in the contemplation of Congress that one or both of the parties themselves might occasionally become unjust and unreasonable. Not only was the Board given no powers of compulsion but very properly it was not vested with powers of mediation. It can decide, but cannot compromise. Functions of the Board At a first glance this plan would appear to the sophisticated judgment of any man on the street as a pipe dream. His knowledge of the proclivity of mankind to violate any and all laws, even at the peril of fine, imprisonment and the noose, would bring from him the quick opinion that the decisions of the Labor Board would be uniformly ignored by the loser and respected only by the winner. There were, however, psychological and economic factors lying just underneath the surface of things that made this idea less fan |