Part 13 (1/2)

Beyond the ordinary judicial protection afforded by the obligations attached to service contract, special guarantees of protection are in part already granted, in part demanded, against abuse of contract, incomplete fulfilment and non-fulfilment of service contract to the disadvantage, as a rule, but of course not in all cases, of wage-labour.

This protection is afforded partly by formal regulations, partly by judicial rulings on special cases. The latter form of protection in contract is closely allied to protection in intercourse (see above); the two overlap each other.

The protection afforded by contract regulations consists in the enforcement of certain formal requirements, and the granting of certain remissions, such as _e.g._ the requirement of written agreements and the remission of duty on written agreements, etc. First and foremost stands the obligation to post up the working rules. _A parte potiori_[13] all protection of contract might be called protection of working rules.

The working rules serve in reality to give the workman himself the control over his own rights, but they also are to the interest of the employer.

The _von Berlepsch_ Bill further extends this sort of method to factory and quasi-factory labour (-- 134_a_-134_g_), permitting the workmen in any business to exert a considerable influence upon the drawing up of the working rules. Sections 134_b_ and 134_c_ read thus: ”-- 134_b_.

Working rules shall contain directions: (1) as to the time of beginning and ending the daily work, and as to the intervals provided for adult workers; (2) as to the time and manner of settling accounts and paying wages; (3) as to the grounds on which dismissal from service or quitting service may be allowable without notice, wherever such are not determined by law; (4) as to the kind of severity of punishments, where such are permitted; as to the way in which punishments shall be imposed, and, if they take the form of fines, as to the manner of collecting them and the purpose to which they shall be devoted. No punishments offensive to self-respect and decency shall be admitted in the working rules.

Fines shall not exceed twice the amount of the customary day's wage (-- 8. Insurance against Sickness Act, June 15th, 1883), and they shall be devoted to the benefit of the workers in the factory. The right of the employer to demand compensation for damage is not affected by this rule.

It is left in the hands of the owner of the factory to add to rules I to 4 further rules for the regulation of the business and the conduct of the workmen in the business. The conduct of young workers outside the business shall also be regulated. The working rules may direct that wages earned by minors shall be paid to the parents and guardians, and only by their written consent to the minors directly; also that a minor shall not give notice to quit without the expressed consent of his father or guardian.”

-- 134_d_ reads as follows: ”Before the issue of the working rules or of an addition to the rules, opportunity shall be given to the workers in the factory to express their opinion on the contents. In those factories in which there is a standing committee of the workmen it will be sufficient to receive the opinions of the committee on the contents of the working rules.”

It is further recommended that the factory rules shall include the publication of legal enactments regarding _protection by limitations of employment, protection in occupation_ and in _intercourse_, the necessary conditions and limitations of these, the possibilities of appeal, and methods of payment of overtime wage, also of instructions for precaution against accidents, and lastly of the name and address of the club doctor and dispenser, of the company and their representatives, the name of the factory inspector and his office address and office hours.

But we have seen that contract protection is not only afforded by these formal regulations but also by judicial rulings on special cases. These latter have a threefold task: to prevent the drawing up of unfair contracts, to supply deficiencies in the contract, by adding subsidiary rulings suited to the nature of the industrial service relations, and lastly, to secure the fulfilment of service contract; _i.e._ they have to provide protection by limitation and completion of contract and to secure fulfilment of contract.

This kind of protection of contract is of special importance in dealing with contract fines, proportional output (”efficiency work”), the supply of tools and materials of work, and lastly with payment of wage.

Labour Protection seeks to guard against abuse of contract fines, by fixing the highest permissible amount of fines, and by handing over the proceeds of the fines to the workmen's provident fund. This is a matter of the highest moment, and must find a place in the drawing up and in the enforcement of the working rules (see above). Hitherto it has only been extended to factory labour.

A second task of protection of contract lies in the protection of ”efficiency work,” _i.e._ protection of the wage-worker against an undue deduction from his ”efficiency wage” on account of the alleged inferior quality of the output, and against neglect to reckon in the full amount of the output in the calculation of wage. This measure of protection has been placed on the orders of the day of the present labour protective movement, by the adoption _e.g._ of the system of checking the weight of the output in mining.

In the third place we come to protection of the workman against loss sustained in buying his tools and materials of work from the employer.

This measure of protection in purchase of materials is applied to the whole of industrial labour by means of its insertion in the general rules for truck protection contained in the Imp. Ind. Code.

A fourth point, very closely allied to protection of intercourse, but which has to be dealt with protectively by those judicial rulings on protection of contract, concerns the permanence of rate of wage, the day, place, and period of payment, and by whom, and to whom, payments are to be made. Protection of payment may be more completely secured by the inclusion in the working rules of directions on these points. It must be applied to the whole of industrial wage-labour according to circ.u.mstances. The prohibition of payment of wages in public-houses and on Sat.u.r.days, the fixing of the wage by the employer himself, not by a subordinate official; the obligation to make the agreement as to ”efficiency wage” at the time of undertaking the work, in order that the bargain may not be broken off should it prove specially favourable for the workers; also payment of wage at least weekly or fortnightly; and lastly, the payment of minors' wages into the hands of parents or guardians, which const.i.tutes a measure of educational protection of the minors against themselves--such are the princ.i.p.al requirements of protection of payment of wages, requirements which are already more or less fulfilled.

FOOTNOTE:

[13] That is, _after the largest portion of it_.

CHAPTER IX.

THE RELATIONS OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF LABOUR PROTECTION TO EACH OTHER.

If the various chief branches of Labour Protection are compared with each other after they have all been examined separately, they appear to be indispensable and inseparable members of one system, for no one branch can be spared. But they are very different in nature, and by no means equal in importance.

Protection of truck and contract have long ago reached their full development. Both are almost universal in their extension, and are exercised by the regular administrative courts and petty courts of justice. They are characterised on the whole by legal precision, which affords little room for interpretation and extension at the will of the administration. Protection of contract and protection of intercourse are required less in the immediate interest of the whole State than in that of individuals.

But when we come to protection in occupation, it is altogether another matter.