REPORT OF COMMITTEE л ON RELATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE. SUBMITTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH RESOLVE APPROVED Exchange Duplicate, L. C JANUARY, 1904. LIBRARY BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS MAR 6 1914 DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BOSTON: WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE. 1904. To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives. The Committee on Relations between Employer and Employee, appointed by His Excellency the Governor in pursuance of a resolve approved June 5, 1903, has the honor to submit herewith the results of its inquiries, and its recommendations, as directed in said resolve. The resolve in question reads in part as follows: [RESOLVES OF 1903, CHAPTER 87.] Resolved, That the governor of the Commonwealth, with the advice and consent of the council, shall, within thirty days after the passage of this resolve, appoint a committee of five persons, citizens of the Commonwealth, one of whom he shall designate as chairman, to be known as the committee on the relations between employer and employee. Of the said committee one member shall be an employer of labor in the Commonwealth and one shall be a representative of the employees. The said committee shall examine and consider the laws of the Commonwealth and any proposed laws or amendments concerning the legal relations of employer and employee, and especially concerning the liability of the employer for injuries received by the employee in the course of his employment, the conduct of strikes and lockouts, the authority of the courts to issue injunctions in cases of strikes and to punish for contempt of court, the matter of black listing, the creation of a disability or pension fund by joint contributions of employers and employees, schemes of industrial partnership for the purpose of regulating wages, and schemes of industrial courts; and other like matters. Said committee shall consider the matters involved in all petitions, bills and resolves now pending in the general court concerning any of the subjects above referred to. His Excellency the Governor, on the ninth day of July, 1903, appointed the undersigned as members of the Committee on Relations between Employer and Employee. On the thirteenth of the same month the members qualified under their respective commissions by taking and subscribing the oath prescribed by the Constitution, and on the same day organized for the purpose of considering the questions referred to them. The committee has held repeated hearings, giving notice throughout the Commonwealth, by advertisement in the papers and through circulars, of its readiness to take testimony on the different subjects referred to it. Under the provisions of the foregoing resolve, the committee was charged to examine and consider the laws of the Commonwealth concerning the legal relations of employer and employee, and especially concerning the liability of the employer for injuries received by the employee, the conduct of strikes and lockouts, the authority of the courts to issue injunctions in cases of strikes and to punish for contempt of court, the matter of blacklisting, the creation of a disability or pension fund, schemes of industrial partnership for the purpose of regulating wages, and schemes of industrial These matters have received the larger share of the attention of the committee. The other like matters concerning the legal relations between employers and employees, which are covered by petitions, bills and resolves pending in the General Court at the time of the passage of the foregoing resolve, have received such consideration as their importance demanded. courts. There have been brought to the attention of the committee other matters neither specifically nor incidentally referred to in the resolve. Among the bills before the committee are quite a number which do not come within the scope of the instructions under which it has acted. Of these there may be mentioned "An Act to establish a Board of Examiners for Barbers and to regulate the Management of Barber Shops" (House, No. 905). This is a measure which more specifically belongs to the Board of Health, and has no relation to the subject-matter referred to the committee, although testimony was offered which would seem to indicate that it is a measure possibly requiring the attention of the Legislature. The attention of the committee was also called at the hearings to a number of bills relating to the granting of police pensions in cities (Senate, No. 59), to pensioning employees of the city of Boston (House, No. 206), to authorizing the city of Boston to pension certain employees (House, No. 286), to pensioning firemen in cities (House, No. 393), to the further extension of the pension system in the police department of the city of Boston (House, No. 625), to leaves of absence of twenty-four consecutive hours in the fire department of the city of Boston (House, No. 628), to authorizing the city of Boston to pension members of its police signal service (House, No. 844), and other bills of like character. These bills were not construed by the committee as coming properly under its consideration. Other bills of a different nature were urged upon our attention, among which may be mentioned the following: a bill relative to the use of safety appliances by railroad companies (House, No. 430), a matter which might more properly be passed upon by the Board of Railroad Commissioners; a bill relative to the number of brakemen which railroad companies shall employ on freight trains (House, No. 431), — which might, in like manner, be passed upon by the Board of Railroad Commissioners; a bill relative to arrests in minor criminal prosecutions (House, No. 434); one providing that no person shall be imprisoned for debt (House, No. 918); and one relative to the protection of traders (House, No. 555). These three latter bills, as relating to criminal matters, do not in any way pertain to the subjects to be considered by the committee. They have all been passed over, however, without prejudice, the committee |