been requested on wage questions; in 1920, when its recommendations were adopted by both sides; during 1924; and again in 1931.

Grievances and local disputes are in practice never considered by the council, and representatives of the union and employer organizations informed us that the success of the council had largely been due to the fact that it did not deal with these questions or, save in very exceptional instances, with wage matters. As a result of excluding the handling of controversies from the normal functions of the council an atmosphere is maintained in which the joint collaborative work of the council may most fruitfully be carried on.

In 1924 arbitration procedure was adopted which has been twice resorted to and is still in force. When the negotiations between the employers' and workers' organizations arrive at a deadlock, by requisition in accordance with the constitution, a special meeting of the council is convened. A special committee is then appointed of six representatives from each side, together with three of the honorary members, who are given power to decide on any question in case agreement by the representative members of the committee is not reached, each party agreeing to abide by the decision.

There have been no major strikes in the industry since 1900. There was, however, a sectional strike in 1908. This is the last time strikebreakers were used in the industry. The union at that time used mass picketing to prevent workers from entering the plants. Few unauthorized strikes have occurred in the industry, and these were too small to be of any consequence and were usually promptly settled.

Annual agreements cover wages and hours. These agreements continue in force unless there is a 6 weeks' notice of proposed change prior to the termination of the agreement.

The proportion of piece-rate workers to day-wage workers is approximately 80 percent. Basic rates and "plussages" in terms of percentage are settled nationally, and individual manufacturers can ask for variations of wage scales of plussages locally. This can be done by local arbitration. At intervals a survey is made of the actual earnings of the different grades of workers throughout the industry. A week's holiday with pay is provided for. This was introduced at the suggestion of the employers. The holiday pay does not depend upon the earnings of the individual, but is a fixed sum irrespective of earnings.

APPENDIX B

THE STATUTORY LAW IN GREAT BRITAIN AS TO

(I) THE STATUS OF LABOR UNIONS (INCLUDING BOTH REGISTERED AND UNREGISTERED UNIONS) AND OF THEIR AGREEMENTS

[Footnotes at end of statutory law]

Prior to 1824 labor unions, if organized and carried on for any such purposes as they serve today, had no legal status. By a number of general and special acts of Parliament (inclusively referred to as the Combination Laws), as well as under the common-law doctrine of conspiracy, criminal liability attached to participation by workers in concerted action to better their working conditions. Such combinations were considered to be contrary to public policy and were treated as conspiracies in restraint of trade. Agreements to effect such purposes were void or voidable.

The Combinations Law Repeal Act of 18251 repealed these criminal Combination Laws and in their place established penalties for the use of violence, threats or intimidation, molestation, or obstruction in connection with attempts to regulate employer-worker relations. At the same time the act legalized voluntary collective action, in the form of trade agreements dealing with wages and hours, by providing that the penalties prescribed in the act should not extend (1) to meetings or combinations of workers (or of employers) for the sole purpose of consulting upon wages or hours of work or (2) to agreements among the workers (or employers) as to wages or hours of work; and that persons so meeting for that purpose, or entering into any such agreement, should not be liable to any prosecution or penalty for so doing under any law or statute. But such agreements, and the activities of such combinations, remained under the ban of unlawful restraint of trade and were still subject to the charge of conspiracy.

It was not until the passage of the Trade Union Act of 1871 that the purposes of such combinations were relieved from the charges of conspiracy in restraint of trade, and that agreements to effect such purposes were made lawful. That act provides that the purposes of any trade-union (i. e., any association of workers or employers for "statutory" purposes) "shall not by reason merely that they are in restraint of trade, be deemed to be unlawful, so as to render any member of such trade-union liable to criminal prosecution for conspiracy or otherwise," or "so as to render void or voidable any agreement or trust."

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While the act thus makes such agreements lawful, it denies to them the sanction of direct enforcement in the courts. It provides that nothing in the act shall enable any court to entertain any legal pro

ceedings for directly enforcing or for recovering damages for the breach of any agreement made between one trade-union and another; or any bond to secure the performance of any such agreements. Since by definition in the act a "trade-union" includes an association of employers formed to deal with terms of employment, the effect of this is to make unenforceable in the courts all agreements between labor unions and associations of employers.

The result of this legislation, and of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act of 1875 and the Trade Disputes Act of 1906 with their limitations of the right to sue a trade-union for acts done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute (see sec. II, infra) has been that the agreements between labor unions and employers' associations which dominate employer-worker relations in Great Britain rest, as a practical matter, on moral force rather than on legal sanctions.5

Political Objects.-In placing the legal status of trade-unions on a reasonably secure footing, as described above, the Trade Union Act of 1871 was a landmark in the development of the law. Its definition of the objectives which would convert an otherwise presumably illegal association into a lawful "trade-union" (see footnote 3) was, however, rather limited, and the courts subsequently held that a trade-union could not go beyond these objectives and could not, for example, spend money for political purposes.

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To remove this limitation, the Trade Union Act of 1913 broadened the definition of a "trade-union" by providing that, so long as its "principal objectives" were statutory, it could apply its funds for any lawful purpose (whether listed in the statutes or not) authorized by its constitution. And the act expressly authorizes the expenditure of trade-union funds for political objects, as defined in the act, if the furtherance of the objects has been approved by a majority of the members voting, on a ballot taken under rules approved by the registrar (whether the union is registered or not). These rules must provide that any such expenditures shall be out of a separate fund and that any member of the union who has given notice that he objects to a contribution shall not be excluded from any benefits of the union or otherwise placed under any disability. This is the so-called "contracting out" provision, which, in the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act of 1927 is replaced by the "contracting in" provision which exempts each member from contribution to political funds unless he has signed and filed with the trade-union a written notice of his willingness to contribute. The 1927 act (sec. 4 (6)) also requires unregistered trade-unions to make annual reports to the registrar with respect to their political funds, a provision supplementing the Trade Union Act, 1871, under which registered trade-unions must report with respect to all of their funds. (See Registered Trade Unions, infra.)

Government and Municipal Employees and Essential Services.-The Police Act of 1919 10 establishes an organization called the Police Federation, with local and central representative bodies, to enable members of the police forces in England, Scotland, and Wales to take up with the authorities all questions except the displacement and promotion of particular individuals. This Federation must be entirely independent of and unassociated with any body or person out

side the police service, and membership in a trade-union is prohibited to members of the police forces. It is provided, however, that where a man was a member of a trade-union before becoming a constable he may, with the consent of the chief officer of police, continue to be a member of that union.

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By the act of 1927 "established civil servants" "1 may belong to a trade-union only if it is confined to persons employed by or under the Crown; is in all respects independent of and not affiliated to any outside trade-union; has no political objectives; and is not associated directly or indirectly with any political party or organization. These provisions do not apply to any established civil servant who, prior to the passage of the act, had been a member for more than 6 months of a trade-union under whose rules there had begun to accrue to him any right of future benefit payments. Nor do the provisions apply to any person who in addition to being an established civil servant, apart from his service as such, is also engaged in some other employment or occupation.

The act of 1927 further prohibits local or other public authorities from making it a condition of employment or continuance in employment that any employee shall be a member of a trade-union; and from discriminating against any employee for being or for not being a member of a trade-union.

The Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875 12 (as amended by the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919 13), provides in substance that employees engaged in furnishing municipalities with gas, water, or electricity may be fined or imprisoned if they "wilfully and maliciously" break their contracts of service, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequences will be to deprive the inhabitants "wholly or to great extent" of their supply of gas, water, or electricity.14

The act of 1875 also provides penalties for any breach of contract of employment committed wilfully and maliciously with knowledge that the probable consequences will be to endanger human life or cause serious bodily injury, or to expose property to destruction or serious injury. And the act of 1927 provides that if an employee of any local or other public authority "wilfully breaks a contract of service with that authority, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequence of his so doing, either alone or in combination with others, will be to cause injury or danger or grave inconvenience to the community," he may summarily be fined or imprisoned.

The Emergency Powers Act of 1920 15 gives the Government power to take all measures necessary for securing the essentials of life to the community; but the act excludes any form of compulsory military service and provides that no emergency regulation under the act may make it an offense to take part in a strike or peacefully to persuade any persons to take part in a strike.

Certification. Because of the special status created for "tradeunions" as such, by the act of 1871 and subsequent acts, including particularly the act of 1906 exempting trade-unions from suits for tortious acts as described hereinafter, it became important to be able to prove that a particular combination was a trade-union within the

meaning of those acts. Registration under the act of 1871 was sufficient to prove that fact. But registration was a voluntary matter, and the status created by the acts was enjoyed by unregistered as well as by registered trade-unions. For the purpose, therefore, of making convenient legal proof that a particular combination is a trade-union, without requiring it to register under the act of 1871, the Trade Union Act of 1913 provides that an unregistered trade-union may apply to the registrar for a certificate that it is a trade-union. within the meaning of that act. The registrar, if satisfied that the principal objects of the union are statutory objects and that it is actually carried on for those objects, is required to grant such a certificate. He may subsequently withdraw the certificate if he finds that the union is no longer a trade-union within the statutory definition. A certificate, so long as it is in force, is conclusive evidence for all purposes that the certified union is a trade-union within the meaning of the acts.

Registered Trade Unions.-The act of 1871, which makes provision for the voluntary registration of trade-unions, prohibits their registration under the Friendly Societies Acts of 1855 and 1858, under the Industrial and Providence Societies Acts of 1867, or under the Companies Acts of 1862 and 1867. The effect of this last clause (which was amended by the Companies Act, 1929,16 so as to substitute that act for the earlier Companies Acts) is to prohibit trade-unions from incorporating. Registering under the act of 1871 confers certain. benefits and imposes certain obligations, which may be summarized as follows:

(a) Benefits of Registration.-A trade-union, by registering, becomes a statutory association whose right to hold property and to sue and be sued vests in a body of trustees with continuing existence. The act contains special provisions with regard to the facilitation of realestate transactions; the vesting of the union property in the trustees; the bringing of actions by and against the trustees "touching or concerning any property, right, or claim to property of the trade-union"; the limitation of the responsibility of trustees for the funds of the trade-union; the rendering of accounts by the treasurer and other officers to the trustees or to the members of the trade-union as required, and the recovery of securities and effects, books, papers, and other property of the union by the trustees from such officers; and the punishment in summary proceedings of officers or members for fraudulently obtaining or employing the monies, securities, books, papers, and so forth, of the union, upon a complaint made by any person on behalf of the union.

It is not to be understood from what has just been said as to registered trade-unions that unregistered trade-unions cannot hold property or that they do not have access to the courts with respect to their rights and property. They are, however, merely voluntary associations of individuals, and may bring suit only by joining all members of the union as parties, which is normally impractical, or by a “representative" action in which officers or other persons representative of the union sue on behalf of the members. To maintain a representative action, special permission must be granted by the court, and the officers or other representatives must show that they have the same

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