CHAPTER I. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION) INTRODUCTORY. There was no change during the year under review in the functions of the Ministry in regard to industrial relations or in the powers of the Department in relation to the settlement of labour disputes and cognate matters. At the commencement of the year, in spite of the continued depression of 1925 and the seasonal decline of employment at the end of that year, there were signs, slight but perceptible, of an improvement in trade. Any hopes of such an improvement being maintained were dispelled by two disputes of a magnitude unparalleled in the history of industrial relations in this country; firstly, by the dispute in the coal mining industry, which began in May and continued until November, and secondly, by the general strike which lasted from 4th until 12th May. Both of these events were dealt with in detail in the Ministry of Labour Gazette. (See: for the mining dispute, the issues of the Gazette for August to December, inclusive; and, for the general strike, that for July.) This is not the place in which to estimate the effect of these two disputes on industry generally, but some reference to their effect on the relations between employers and employed is necessary. A strike of the dimensions of the general strike naturally involved the unions concerned in considerable expenditure on dispute pay and out-of-work benefit, and, when the strike terminated, a number of the unions found that their funds were exhausted. In addition, the dislocation of trade resulting from the general strike and the dispute in the coal mining industry made the immediate reabsorption of all the men who had ceased work impossible. In these circumstances it is, perhaps, not surprising that the Department has been called upon to deal with an abnormally small number of disputes either by conciliation or arbitration. Difficulties arose on the termination of the general strike in connection with questions of reinstatement, but in the majority of trades negotiations between the parties resulted in agreements providing for a resumption of work on the status quo and not infrequently embodying an undertaking on the part of the trade unions concerned that in future there should be no stoppage of work without due and proper notice. The general strike extended to a number of industries in which Joint Industrial Councils or Interim Industrial Reconstruction Committees existed, and the effect upon these bodies is worth recording. They showed their value in providing a meeting ground for the discussion of the situation arising out of the strike, and still more in the spirit of reasonableness in which those discussions were almost invariably conducted. One Committee has 61373 A 4 1 suspended its activities indefinitely, but in general it may be said that the effect of the strike has been definitely to strengthen the position of the Industrial Councils and their power for good. Some of those affected by the strike have added to their constitution provisions designed to ensure at least an interval for discussion and negotiation before a stoppage of work takes place; others which already had such machinery took the opportunity to overhaul or to extend it. On the whole there is every ground for satisfaction at the way in which the Whitley Council system has stood the severe test to which the general strike exposed it. The report of proceedings under the Conciliation Act, 1896, and the Industrial Courts Act, 1919, which the Minister is required to present to Parliament from time to time, is included in this volume. PROCEEDINGS UNDER THE CONCILIATION ACT, 1896, AND THE General. The present section deals with the administration of the Conciliation Act, 1896, and the Industrial Courts Act, 1919, during the year 1926. As regards conciliation, particulars have been limited in this Report, as in preceding Reports, to cases in which the Department has been formally associated with the settlement. The following table shows the number of cases settled with the assistance of the Board of Trade or the Ministry from 1896, the year of the passing of the Conciliation Act, to 1926, inclusive: During the year under review 137 disputes were settled by way of conciliation or arbitration. Of these 104 were referred to the Industrial Court for arbitration (including 43 Civil Service cases, 41 in the railway service, eight in engineering and shipbuilding, and four in transport trades); five were referred to single arbitrators; four to ad hoc Boards of Arbitration. Five were settled under Section 2 (1) of the Conciliation Act, 1896; and in 19 cases agreement was reached with the assistance of officers of the Ministry (including three building trade and three woodworking cases and three in the food, drink and tobacco trades). In Appendix III will be found a tabular statement setting out, according to the method of settlement and by industry, the distribution of the 137 cases dealt with during 1926. Where conciliation conferences convened by the Department resulted in agreement for the reference of the case to arbitration, the case is included in the records of arbitration settlements. Arbitration. (A) Industrial Court.-During the year several changes took place in the personnel of the Court. Sir William W. Mackenzie, G.B.E., K.C., who was appointed President of the Court on its establishment in 1919, resigned his appointment in January, 1926, and was succeeded by Mr. (now Sir) Harold Morris, K.C., who had shortly before succeeded Sir William Mackenzie as Chairman of the (Railway) National Wages Board. Mr. D. C. Cummings, C.B.E., who had been a member of the Court since its establishment, retired in December, 1926; and there were a number of changes during the year of the representatives on the special Civil Service panels. During 1926 the Court issued 104 decisions on cases referred to it for determination under the Industrial Courts Act, 1919, making a total of 1,272 decisions so issued since the establishment of the Court. A substantial number of the cases dealt with during 1926 were cases submitted in pursuance of the agreement made in 1925 for the reference to the Court of claims affecting the emoluments, weekly hours of work, and leave of classes of Civil Servants. Many were claims for higher salary scales and affected a wide. range of different classes in many Departments. From the point of view of the number of employees directly involved the largest of such claims was that dealt with in decision no. 1188 on a claim for higher salary scales for the supervising grades in the Post Office, in which some 7,900 persons were concerned. Other Civil Service differences dealt with by the Court during the year included questions: as to the date of operation of the final increment of a salary scale where the final increment is less than the full ordinary increment (decision no. 1190); as to the discontinuance of the bonus "super-cut (decision no. 1262); as to the point on the new scale at which existing staff should be transferred to a new scale of salaries (decisions nos. 1217 and 1218); and as to payment in respect of overtime worked over extended periods by certain non-overtime classes (decision no. 1267). The first two of these cases, decisions nos. 1190 and 1262, arose on general claims by the staff side of the National Whitley Council for the Administrative and Legal Departments. Decisions nos. 1217 and 1218 related to claims by Admiralty and Post Office servants respectively arising out of previous awards of the Court. Of the industrial cases referred to the Court the one of chief interest was that affecting the remuneration and conditions of service of sea-going wireless operators after a strike which commenced in November, 1925 (see pp. 11-12). The Court's decision dealt in detail with a variety of matters, including :-duties and employment other than wireless telegraphy; remuneration— ordinary monthly rates; additional rates-prolonged voyages and foreign service; oil tankers; foreign ships; food allowance on ships on weekly Articles; subsistence allowance; baggage; change of port and travelling allowances; overtime; leave; accommodation and messing; salvage awards, rewards and bonuses; future regulation of wages and conditions. General wages claims were dealt with also in the coir mat and matting industry (decision no. 1170), on a difference between the two sides of the Joint Industrial Council for the industry, and in the paper making trade (decision no. 1201). The number of cases affecting railway shopmen arising out of the Court's decision no. 728, which determined the rates of pay and conditions of service of railway shopmen, showed a marked reduction. Many of those upon which the Court was asked to decide raised the question whether particular men or groups of men were entitled to an allowance for dirty and/or dangerous work within the meaning of decision no. 728. The reduction in the number of cases referred to the Court was no doubt largely due to the fact that the series of decisions which have now been issued have laid down principles on which the parties concerned can reach agreement on particular cases arising. (B) Single Arbitrators and ad hoc Boards of Arbitration under the Conciliation Act, 1896, and the Industrial Courts Act, 1919.During the year five disputes were referred to Single Arbitrators and four were dealt with by ad hoc Boards. Apart from applications for changes in wages, matters referred to arbitration included questions relating to holidays with pay, demarcation of work, and the provision of indoor workshops for outworkers in the boot and shoe trade. Summaries of the cases referred to arbitration are published monthly in the Ministry of Labour Gazette under the heading "Industrial Courts Act, 1919, and Conciliation Act, 1896, Recent Proceedings ". i Conciliation Settlements. Twenty-four conciliation settlements were effected during the year. These cases may be classified as follows: (a) Settlements negotiated under the presidency of an agreed or nominated chairman, in accordance with Section 2 (1) of the Conciliation Act, 1896. (b) Other settlements. Summaries of these cases also are published in the Ministry of Labour Gazette. Special reference should be made, however, to the case affecting wireless operators : At the end of July, 1925, notice was given by the Engineering and Allied Employers' London and District Association, representing the employers concerned, to the Association of Wireless and Cable Telegraphists that it wished to discuss a reduction of the wages of wireless operators in the mercantile marine. The operators in question were not covered by the agreement of the National Maritime Board under which a reduction of the wages of other ratings on board ship was due to come into operation at the beginning of August. Conferences subsequently took place between representatives of the employers and of the operators, but no agreement was reached. The operators' association wished to combine with consideration of the wages question a discussion of certain alterations in conditions, while the employers claimed that these must be dealt with separately. At the end of October the employers gave a month's notice of a reduction of 22s. 6d. per month, to come into force on 1st December. Negotiations having failed, the operators' association instructed its members not to sign on any ship after 9 a.m. on the morning of 26th November, 1925. The Ministry of Labour maintained constant touch with the parties throughout the ensuing dispute, and at a joint meeting held on 18th February under the auspices of the Department a settlement was arrived at containing, inter alia, the following provisions: (a) Resumption of work is to take place as from 18th February, and negotiations will be entered into between the Association of Wireless and Cable Telegraphists and the Engineering and Allied Employers' London and District Association, with a view to securing that more uniform and mutually satisfactory conditions of service shall operate in the future. (b) The two parties will submit their respective terms of reference and commence discussions not later than 1st March, 1926. |